THE 

ORIGINAL 



FROM THE 





Pass -BFiy 

Book £aS_ 

Copyright^? 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




CARLYLE PETERSILEA 



LETT 





FROM THE 



pMt World 



Written Through the Mediumship of 

Carrie Ipetersilea, 

BY HIS FATHER, FRANZ PETERSILEA, 

And Other Spirit Celebrities. 



CHICAGO: 

THE PROGRESSIVE THINKER PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
1905. 






Two Coi 

MAH 8 1905 

GLASS *L^ XXc Not 
COf*Y 6.' 



Copyright 1905 

BY 

J. R. FRANCIS. 



PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION 



In Presenting these "Letters From the 
Spirit World," the publisher thinks he is 
filling an important niche in the literature 
of Spiritualism. Carlyle Petersilea was 
a most remarkable medium, and his 
writings have always met with the cor- 
dial approval of Spiritualists generally. 
There is a peculiar fascination in all his 
works, that interests and instructs, and 
leads one to a higher plane of thought. 
These "Letters From the Spirit World" 
are the crowning triumph of his career 
as a medium, and they are presented 
with confidence in their uplifting and 
entertaining qualities. 




HOME OF THE PROGRESSIVE THINKER. 

40 Loomis St., Chicago, Illinois. 



The above illustration represents the beautiful home of 
The Progressive Thinker. It is situated on the west 
side of Jefferson Park. There is no lovelier locality in the 
city of Chicago. 



LETTER NUMBER ONE. 



Carlyle, My Dear Son: — Some twenty years ago, ac- 
cording to your earth's division of time, I passed out of 
my material body, and entered the celestial world. 

We call our world here the celestial world because, be- 
ing freed from the earthly form, we are at liberty to move 
among celestial bodies if we choose; and I have chosen so 
to do. Still, this world may also be properly called the 
ethereal or spiritual world — celestial, ethereal, spiritual. 
You are well aware that all space is ether or ethereal; that 
this ether is filled by spiritual, celestial and material 
bodies or forms; that these forms differ both in shape and 
density. 

Not long after leaving my material body, finding that 
I was yet alive and not dead, I returned to you and suc- 
ceeded in writing a small book. We agreed to call this 
book "The Discovered Country," for the very good reason 
that I had discovered a country about which I knew little 
or nothing — in fact, a country that I knew nothing about, 
for I had not taken the slightest trouble to inform my- 
self on the subject of a life after so-called death. Like 
the dear brother who has lately joined me here — Kobert 
(t. Ingersoll — I believed that death ended all. If I oc- 
casionally had a hope, I knew nothing, believed nothing, 
and as Mr. Ingersoll, who now stands by my side, says, it 
was far better thus than to believe a mass of falsehoods — 
our spiritual minds being like the unwritten pages of a 
book, clean and ready to be put to the best use possible. 

Dear Carlyle, I tell you no falsehood when I say that 
my dearly loved friend and coadjutor, Robert GL Inger- 
soll, now stands by my side, and together we shall dictate 
these letters. Let those jeer who care to. Scoffs and 
jeers never yet accomplished a great deal; they do very 
little, even, to break down error. Far better is it to place 



4 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

beautiful truth by the side of error, and let the observer 
and student discover the difference between the two. 

In the book which I wrote, called "The Discovered 
Country/' I gave you a detailed account of the first few 
months of my life and experiences here in the celestial 
world. Having now been a resident within this world for 
twenty years, I certainly can tell you much more than I 
was able to at that time; still, all that I then wrote you is 
true, and now I shall add to that the experience of twenty 
years. 

But first I would like to tell you a little about our 
friend Robert. His experiences and mine were not at all 
alike, for no two souls can tell precisely the same story. 

When I was born into the celestial world, my father 
and mother received my spirit, although they concealed 
from me the fact that they were my parents, and accom- 
panying them was the other half of myself, the comple- 
ment of my own soul — all three unknown to me at the 
time. All who have read "The Discovered Country" will 
remember the account; but our friend Robert was received 
by a multitude of disenthralled beings, with loud acclaim 
and waving banners. These people, together with their 
banners, were real and visible to his sight, and upon these 
banners were words, sentences and emblems, for everyone 
who bore aloft a banner, his or her soul had become disen- 
thralled of an error — in other words the herculean arm of 
our friend Robert had struck a chain from off them, let- 
ting their souls go free, and thus the host met him with 
banners and huzzas. 

At first he thought he had fallen asleep and was dream- 
ing, not knowing he was free from the body, and really he 
was not at that time when the vision first struck his spirit- 
ual sight, but gradually things took permanent shape and 
clearness. The colder his earthly body became the 
brighter and bolder the celestial scene was to his sight; 
and presently he was able to read many of these banners. 
As I was present myself, I will tell you what was upon 
some of the most striking of them. "Welcome to the 
Land of Hope, Dear Bob;" upon another, a large star 
glittered brightly, and beneath were the words: "A Star is 
a Real World, and Hope is as Real as the Stars ;" upon an- 
other, "Hope On, Hope Ever," and beneath these words 
a circle: "Have you found the end of the circle, dear 
brother," and yet another, the symbol of the cross, an ex- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 5 

act representation of a cross with Jesus nailed to the tree, 
together with the words, "I die that you may live." 

Robert's eyes took on a wide expression as they rested 
on this symbol, for he was intensely surprised. The 
standard-bearer came and stood directly by him. 

"Wouldst know the meaning of this symbol, Robert?" 
he asked. "You have said in the past, 'When I die.' I is 
dead, dear friend, and You live. I die, that You may 
live. The body of man is his crucified savior, for if his 
body never died his spirit could not go free." Upon an- 
other banner a blazing fire, representing Hades, and the 
words, "Burn up the Chaff and Preserve the Wheat," and 
a beautiful spirit escaping from the charred form of a 
man within the flames. Upon another, a serpent, a wo- 
man, and the tree of life. 

"Oh, I never believed that garden of Eden story," mur- 
mured Robert, and neither did I, but now I do. It was 
an ancient symbol, and its meaning — a woman represents 
life, for through her or the female element, life comes 
into being. The serpent represents the beginning of wis- 
dom. At first wisdom is low and crawls on its belly upon 
the earth; but, as the ascending ages roll on, wisdom be- 
comes a beautiful woman, knowing good from evil, for 
she has eaten of the fruit of knowledge of both good and 
evil, or rather, life was at first ignorant, but at last wise. 
She only not gives life to man but shares equally with him 
in wisdom and knowledge. She also being first in spirit- 
ual wisdom is the first to pluck the fruit of knowledge and 
give him to eat thereof, and the spiritual voice, or their 
own spiritual wisdom, which is called the Lord God, 
called to them in the restful part of the day, saying: 

"Now thou hast reached an altitude where thou hast 
sufficient wisdom. Go forth and till the soil that thou 
mayest live above the beast, for thou art now one of us, 
or one with the angels or spirits. Go forth and till the 
soil that thou mayest eat and be clothed." 

And they went forth, the man and his wife, or other- 
wise, men, together with their wives and families. The 
old Hebrew version is plural and not singular. All this 
came upon Robert like a flash of light. He looks at me 
now, saying: 

"I wish I had studied the Bible more, until I had ob- 
tained a key to the hidden meaning of the old Scriptures, 
as well as the more modern New Testament. But, as I 



6 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

did not, I will do so now. It is wisdom and knowledge 
I want, and will have." 

There were many other banners, but we will not stop 
to describe more of them just now. 

It is not my intention, dear Carlyle, to write of Inger- 
solFs private reception by his more immediate relatives. 
This, as yet does not belong to the world in general. 
Whenever I speak of him, or he herein speaks for himself, 
it will be in connection with his public work, his uni- 
versal thoughts, and such truths as he may wish to give 
to the lower or earthly world in general; and he now says: 

"I, Robert G. Ingersoll, am now ready to give a portion 
of my experience in the spiritual or celestial world." 

You remember, my dear son, at my last writing, I had 
visited the sun of your earth and the various planets com- 
posing that system. I had also met the so-called Christ. 
I had talked with Aristotle, and other eminent men, in 
their day on earth. I had also been joined to the other 
half of myself. Now, after all this, you would naturally 
suppose that I would soar away to countless other worlds; 
but, the fact is, they are so numerous and countless that 
at length I wearied of so doing, feeling somewhat as a 
child might who begins to count the grains of sand on the 
seashore and finds it an impossible task, so gives it up and 
turns its attention to that which it is able to do. I found 
that the work which lay nearest to my hand was to be- 
come acquainted with the laws governing, not only the 
celestial and spiritual world about me, but those which 
governed the earth from which I had come — the earth 
whereon I had been born and passed some sixty odd years 
of material life — and the inner voice, or the voice of the 
Lord, plainly said to me: Franz, your work must be for 
the benefit of the earth you have left; in fact, you must 
not leave it. There is a great natural law which compels 
the spirits to work, each for the earth it has left, and the 
spirits must live and work for these earths, until there is 
no further need of their care. This, after all, is really 
more pleasing to me than visiting countless other worlds 
that I have no especial interest in, for the countless mill- 
ions of worlds are something like the grains of sand on 
the shore, and I do not care to fritter away my time sail- 
ing aimlessly about without chart, rudder or compass. 

After I had sailed about among other worlds I wearied 
of them and returned and joined a company of progressed 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 7 

beings, who, as fast as they discovered great natural laws, 
set themselves to the task of impressing the brains of sen- 
sitive persons within the body, that the earthly world 
might grow in wisdom and consequently be better and 
happier. I wish it here to be distinctly understood that 
all progressed angels are joined to the other halves of 
themselves — the true male and female forming the angel 
— for all that I wrote you in my former works regarding 
this law is true. I shall not enter largely into this great 
natural law, for I do not wish these letters to be a reitera- 
tion of my former works, but give new truths, new laws 
not mentioned in those books; I say new laws, new truths, 
but I mean lately discovered by me and others like me. 
The laws are without beginning and without end for all 
things exist in circles, and circles have neither beginning 
nor end. 

I shall not speculate about anything, but everything re- 
lated in these epistles will be absolute facts known posi- 
tively to myself and other angels who have reached my 
altitude. Thousands on the earth-plane may differ from 
me and think they know more than I do, but a fact is a 
fact and will remain regardless of all differences. 

Now one of the first facts which I shall herein state is 
that a spiritual being forgets nothing that ever transpired 
in his life on earth — no, not the smallest detail, but quite 
the contrary. He even remembers every thought he ever 
evolved, everything which ever met his eye, every sound 
he ever heard, every sensation he ever felt, every being he 
ever came in contact with; all are stored in his memory, to 
be unrolled like a scroll whenever he so desires; not one 
little thought or event is in the least blurred or indis- 
tinct, but as clear and bright as the noonday sun on one 
of the sunniest and brightest of days. 

Now, how do I know? 

I know because it is a fact within my own individual 
consciousness. I know because I am a spiritual being, 
freed from the earthly or material body, and because I do 
remember all that ever transpired in my earthly life, even 
to the smallest, most minute detail. All this I may not 
be able to give through the dull brain of one who is yet 
within the form of flesh and blood, but that does not 
alter the fact of my own memory. 

When one talks, as one supposes, most learnedly, and 
as one thinks, most philosophically about vibrations — 



8 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

higher vibrations — that one forgets there are other laws 
constantly stepping in, or counteracting the vibratory 
law. The great law that steps in to counteract the vibra- 
tory law is the law of photography. When a thought or 
string is once photographed on the spirit of a man, woman 
or child, it is set there f orevermore, throughout eternity. 
Spirit is composed of something more than vibrations 
and is governed by every law pertaining to the universal 
whole. Even stalks and stones retain the images, or im- 
pressions of all that has ever passed before them within 
the range of the shadow cast upon them; and the day is 
not far distant when many will know how to reveal these 
photographic pictures, and if the impression, or in other 
words, the memory of all which has ever transpired be- 
fore the insensible rocks, woods and walls, are to be repro- 
duced when man shall have attained the requisite knowl- 
edge, what can be said of the immortal, intelligent spirit 
of man? 

Moreover, the ethereal atmosphere is a vast reservoir or 
storehouse — one grand picture gallery of all that takes 
place on the earth, and when one throws aside the mate- 
rial body he can read all that ever has taken place in past 
ages, all pictured with greater distinctness and more viv- 
idly than when they actually transpired on the earth. 
These pictures are not stationary, but they are moving as 
if endowed with life, and you of earth are just beginning 
to grasp this law, but, as yet, very crudely to what will be 
attained in the future. If even the ether retains every- 
thing within its memory — as one may call it — think you 
the spirit of the immortal ego will forget ? 

No! We do not forget — from the least to the greatest, 
all remain indelibly stamped upon the soul of man for- 
ever and aye. The angel takes cognizance of all that 
ever was, or is, or ever shall be. One might as well say 
that God forgets. Who can imagine God forgetting any- 
thing? and are not the eternal spirits but drops within 
the Eternal Spirit of the whole which is God? Now, 
my friend Robert, who stands by my side waiting his turn, 
laughs long and heartily as he says: 

"Let me speak a word here, if you please. I have not 
forgotten that I was called by many, Bob; or old Bob In- 
gersoll, the Infidel." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER TWO. 



Our vibrating philosophers may say, "Ah, but the pho- 
tographer must depend on the vibrations of light." Very 
true. I admit that fact, at the same time the image is 
pinned there on the plate and it takes many years of 
earthly time to dim or wipe it out. If this is true of 
earthly photography, what shall be said of the photo- 
graphic pictures of eternity? 

My friends, they are as enduring as eternity itself. If 
the spirit of man is eternal and immortal, the pictures im- 
pressed by time within his soul are also eternal and im- 
mortal. 

Think of a mother passing into the celestial world and 
forgetting the babes she has left behind. I am not a 
mother, but I am a father, and I could no more forget my 
child, left on earth, than I could forget my own existence. 
And, now my friend Robert smiles benignly as he says, 
while raising his hand upward, "When I forget my wife 
and children, then let me become oblivious to all things — 
let me forget heaven itself and all I have learned of im- 
mortality since I left them. Left them, did I say? Not 
I. Not I. Dears, I am only behind the curtain, that is 
all. I am standing here by this good friend, just now, 
learning how to control this medium to write — watching 
him to see just how he does it, for I want to write a book 
myself as soon as these letters are finished. So don't 
mind if I put my fingers in his pie occasionally. We are 
good friends and he is perfectly willing I should do so. 
Suppose I do put in a plum now and then? All the 
better." 

A few more words on this subject and I will leave it. 

If the soul of man forgets everything connected with 
his life on earth, where is the wisdom of his having lived 



10 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

on earth at all? Why need he have toiled up through the 
material if all the lessons he has learned, by thus toiling, 
are forgotten as soon as he leaves it — moreover, what 
would he be worth as a spirit? Certainly his spirit would 
be idiotic — a perfect blank — no memory of anything that 
ever transpired and, consequently, no knowledge of any- 
thing — empty shell — a mere shadow — not knowing as 
much as a new-born babe. But, thanks to higher laws, 
such is not the case. Man's spirit is a receptacle, a vast 
store-house, and not the slightest thing goes to waste. 
His soul makes use of everything which is stored within 
himself. The economy of nature is wonderful indeed, 
for not even an atom can be lost within the great whole — 
not a thought or an incident fades, disappears, or is lost. 

The ethereal atmosphere is the essence of refinement 
and endureth forever. It is the essence of beauty and 
fadeth not. One incident more and I am done with the 
subject for the present. 

Carlyle, my dear son, you remember a time, in the past, 
when you came very near drowning. As you lost con- 
sciousness of your watery surroundings, or was fast be- 
coming oblivious to them, the panorama of your whole 
life passed like a flash before your mentality, even to the 
minutest detail — things you supposed long forgotten, be- 
came clear and distinct. 

This was owing to the spirit becoming partly disen- 
gaged from the body. You were seeing and remember- 
ing as spirits see and remember, and if you had been 
wholly disengaged from the body, and your soul had 
really entered the celestial world, these visions, and this 
memory would have been as vivid and bright as the beau- 
tiful celestial world is brighter and more vivid than the 
earthly world. So, dear friends, one and all, do not 
alarm yourselves by the thought that you will forget any- 
thing of your earthly life on entering the celestial sphere. 
No doubt many who have led evil and wicked lives would 
like to forget, but this is not vouchsafed to them, for here 
the worm of remorse dieth not and the fires of memory 
are not quenched. "Yes," says Robert, "you will find a 
hell here, sure as fate. I was mistaken about that hell. 
The fires of some of these hells are pretty hot I can tell 
you. I have my hand on the head of a poor wretch this 
moment, who has crawled to me for relief from his burn- 
ing, lor a drop of water cannot quench his thirst or cool 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 11 

his parched tongue. This spirit, here crouched beneath 
my hand, was a libertine and a drunkard, and he is burn- 
ing — burning within the flames of his desires that water 
cannot cool, and to indulge them is but to feed the flames 
into raging fury. 

"Poor wretch! His hell is so hot he has crawled to me 
for relief. 

" 'Bob/ he says, 'you told us there was no hell and so I 
said to myself, 'There is no hell. I can do as I like. 
Death ends it all, and I shall soon be dead. Life has 
nothing for me, and I don't want to live. So I poured 
the liquor down and debauched myself as much as possi- 
ble, and here I am Robert, and I swear you are somewhat 
to blame for my condition.' 

"My friends, if weeping tears of blood could do me any 
good, I would try to shed them. Not only do I remember 
all, but this man remembers as well and now reproaches 
me. Am I guilty or not guilty? Answer me, my soul, 
and my soul replies: 

" 'Robert, thou art guilty! Behold the consequences 
of error — in other words — ignorance. You said, 'I don't 
know,' when it was your business to find out. What 
would you think of a lawyer pleading a case, and con- 
tinually saying to the judge and jury, 'I don't know any- 
thing about this. I don't know — I don't know?' The 
judge would* be justified in reprimanding you sharply and 
saying to you 'Go and find out — make yourself acquainted 
with the details of the case before you stand here talking 
to me and this jury, trying to clear the defendant, con- 
stantly telling us you don't know — you don't know! You 
ought to be sentenced for not knowing.' 

"Well, friends, here am I and here is some of my work. 
What shall I do for this man? It won't do now, to say, 
I don't know, for he has told me and I do know. Great 
God! and I was so well satisfied with my life! Man — 
man! Tell me what I can do for you. Shall I say to 
you, as one of old said to the woman of Samaria, 'Go and 
sin no more?' I know of little else to say to you — and 
the man clings to my garments and weeps. Perhaps your 
tears will cool your spirit. 

"Ah! who is this lovely angel coming toward us? Your 
mother, do you say? Oh, my friend, she may be able to 
help us out of our difficulty. 

"0! T am ashamed to look my mother in the face," and 



12 LETTERS FROM Tli E SPIRIT WORLD, 

he covers his face with his hands, to shut out the lovely 
vision, still crouching at my feet; but the mother presses 
forward; she lifts her son to his feet. 'Look at me, dear 
boy/ she says in silvery accents. 'I have not forgotten 
thee. I have thus far, been powerless to save thee, but 
now I will snatch thee like a brand from the burning/ 
and she gently leads away his shivering, cowering form. 

"My friends, there is a heaven and a hell after the death 
of the body, for the soul of man is immortal. Yonder 
wretch is in one degree of hell and I am in another. This 
hell may be the hottest, but the worm that dieth not is 
gnawing briskly at my vitals and all this is memory — 
memory of that which transpired on earth. Why, my 
friends, without memory, a man could not be a thinking, 
immortal being; he would be nothing but a shade. I 
know that we have grass, flowers and trees here, but, of 
course, they are but thoughtless shades; very beautiful in 
themselves, but devoid of memory and intelligence." 

My dear Carlyle, Eobert G. Ingersoll, when in the body, 
wanted proof of a future life. So did I. His thoughts 
and mine were very much alike, as you are well aware, and 
now that he is here in the celestial life with me, we are 
very much attracted to each other. There is a great cor- 
respondence between his life line and my own, although 
I preceded him to this life some twenty years or more. 
As I have already said, my surprise was very great on 
finding that I still lived after the death of the body. I 
had not heard as much of Spiritualism at the time of my 
departure as had Robert. I think if I had I should have 
given it much thought; but it is positive evidence that 
the earthly world now needs more than anything else. 
The great universal cry is "Proof! Give us proof/' and 
the proof will soon be forthcoming. Every member of 
every church in your land wants proof. 

"0, that we could know positively," is the one great, 
wailing cry. That is why the fakirs and frauds are reap- 
ing a rich harvest. They pretend to give this proof. 
There are those through whom proof can be given. 

Now, I should like to give this positive evidence to you, 
my son. All the fathers and mothers this side of life 
want to do the same. Friends here desire to tell their 
friends there all about themselves. Children here want 
to tell their parents on earth of their life here. All who 
have lived and toiled for the good of mankind in general. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 13 

want to tell those in the earthly world that they still live 
and still work for the good of all. 

The great cry of earth is, "Tell us of the other life;" 
and the great cry here is, a O, we want to tell you about 
ourselves." 

Now when things have come to a pass like this, one can 
no more stop the results than one can stop the waves of 
the ocean, or the wind from blowing, or the sun from 
shining, or the rain from falling; but, if Spiritual beings 
had memory of earth and the former lives there, the 
earthly world might cry forever and the cry remain un- 
answered. Natural law does not work in this way. If 
there is a want, or a cry representing a want, there is, and 
always must be a corresponding supply or answei to the 
want or cry. 

A child cries for nourishment. It is a natural want of 
its being; and the mother's breast is there, filled with the 
requisite supply to the want; and all nature works on this 
plan. There is no exception to the rule. 

Man could not desire immortality — the want of a future 
life would not be felt within him — if there existed noth- 
ing to supply this natural want of his being. Man de- 
sires food, and the earth gives him a supply — he desires 
raiment, and by a natural law he fashions and obtains it — 
and there is no want of his being that cannot find a cor- 
responding supply — and after all bodily wants are sup- 
plied, his soul cries out for immortality, and the everlast- 
ing heavens await him. He loses his dearest friends by 
so-called death, and his tearful soul cries out: "Come back 
to me, my beloved; tell me if you are happy and content — 
do you still love me — do you remember?" and the answer 
to his cry is ready and awaiting him, but soul must be an- 
swered by soul and through soul and in no other way. 
There is no way by which soul can answer soul except by 
the exercise of memory. The friend on earth remembers 
the friend he has lost — the lost friend also remembers the 
friend he has left. The memory of one coalesces with the 
other and the two souls are joined to each other once 
more through memory and memory alone. But for mem- 
ory a mortal nor a spirit could not even have the power to 
think at all. A child remembers a former mishap and 
has become wiser in consequence. Memory says. "Now 
you stumbled here once; don't do so again." A child re- 
members its letters — also by putting a and b together he 



14 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

forms a syllable. All knowledge whatever is obtained by 
the use of memory, and the greater the memory the more 
knowledge. Take away a spirit's memory and it would 
remain a hollow, drivelling idiot. 



LETTER NUMBER THREE. 



We will now return to the subject of Evidence. 

That which is evidence to one is not to another, so that 
evidence must come to each distinct individual, and each 
one must have his or her evidence in a different way from 
another. One person tells another that he has actually 
beheld his father's or mother's spirit form; the other re- 
plies: "You probably imagined you did. You think so, 
no doubt, but I do not feel convinced that you really did. 
I have never seen my father or my mother. Don't be- 
lieve anyone ever saw a spirit; but, I'll tell you what, my,, 
friend, I believe my father and mother have both written 
me messages through a slate-writing medium." 

"A medium!" replies the other. "You were cheated. 
Don't believe a message was ever written without human 
hands, on a slate." And so it is with every phase of Spir- 
itual communication. This very letter, which I and my 
friend Robert are writing now, will be doubted. 

Many will say: "We don't believe a spirit or spirits ever 
had anything to do with it," and thus it is. That which 
is evidence to one is no evidence at all to another. There 
are those who say, "when science proves spirit return to 
be true, we will believe," but what will these do with the 
fact, that what science proves to be true one day, some 
other scientific law is discovered which counteracts the 
first and sets it one side. If science had arrived at all 
truth, progress in that direction would be at an end; but, 
when all have been convinced of the fact of immortality, 
and the return of the departed spirit, in his or her own 
way — the way that appeals directly to himself or herself 
and forces the truth home to each; then all the world will 
be convinced of the great and eternal truth of the com- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD, 15 

munion of the inhabitants of the celestial world with 
those of the mundane sphere. 

My friend Robert, have you a word to say on this im- 
portant subject? 

"Well, not much, I think; but if I could have seen a 
good lively ghost, when I was in the body, I might have 
believed my own senses, yet I cannot say that any other 
man would have believed me. I thought, at one time, 
that when I came to die, I should like to retain my con- 
sciousness to the last breath, and tell my secretary, to- 
gether with those nearest and dearest to me, all that I 
might see, feel, or hear, of the other life, if there were one; 
but, when I came to think more about it, I concluded that 
most people would say, 'Oh, he was delirious/ or 'he was 
weakened by sickness — he had been taking opiates/ and 
I now find that would have been precisely what a great 
many would have said. It really could have proved noth- 
ing, after all. As it was, I did not even have time to tell 
my wife that I believed I was dying, much less to tell her 
what my sensations were. I now find that mortal lips 
cannot speak when the spirit is removed from them, that 
mortal eyes cannot see when the spirit eyes are with- 
drawn, that mortal ears cannot hear when the spiritual 
sensorium has escaped, that the mortal heart cannot beat 
when the spiritual rhythm has departed. My beating 
heart seemed to escape from a shell or prison, flying away 
gladly like a bird from its cage; yet that spiritual, im- 
mortal heart never ceased to beat for a moment; the 
rhythm, or beating, simply left the body, that was all; just 
as my sight left it; and when I had gotten entirely out of 
it, it fell like a clod of cold clay to the floor, or would 
have done so if it had not been supported by those who 
had loved me — loved me, but they could no longer love 
that sodden thing. I had left my former body, so they 
burned it as they should. Lift the veil, dear ones; I am 
just behind it." 

The earthly world has never been so far advanced in 
true spirituality as at the present day, consequently the 
celestial world finds it much easier to communicate with 
the dwellers of earth than formerly. If a person cannot, 
or will not, receive truth, it may not be forced upon him 
by the angels, and even if it were, he would throw it aside 
as false, and that is what Jesus meant by the parable of 



16 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the stony ground. Truth cannot find root and grow 
when one will have none of it. 

My son, you have often asked me the question, "Did 
such a person as Jesus Christ ever live on earth?" and I 
have invariably answered you in the affirmative. Jesus 
of Nazareth did live, move and have a being on earth. 
But you say to me: "There are many here on earth at the 
present day, who say that no such person ever lived." 
My dear son, such persons are mistaken. But you say, 
"Father, how do you know they are mistaken?" and I an- 
swer, I, personally, have seen and talked with Jesus of 
Nazareth — the Christ. Christ simply means the anointed 
one, or one who has been anointed as a priest. 

Nothing very wonderful in that fact, is there? You 
have been ordained as a minister or teacher of Spiritual- 
ism, and are trying to benefit the world in that direction. 
Jesus, in his day on earth, did the same. People misun- 
derstand you — they also misunderstood him. Words 
that you have said have been misinterpreted — miscon- 
strued; so were his words, many of them. 

I have had many interviews with Jesus of Naza- 
reth, have talked with him face to face, hours at a time, 
and he has treated me most graciously. I have also met 
and conversed with many other great, good and renowned 
men who once lived on earth. Is there any good reason 
why I should not have done so ? My life here would have 
been to very little purpose if I had not. I have made a 
point of visiting all the great and good men that I had 
ever heard about when I lived on earth, and I have visited 
very many others who lived so far back in the remote ages 
of the earth, that their names are not known on your 
earth to-day. Of these I may speak later on; but it is of 
Jesus I would speak now. The questions which are agi- 
tating the minds of men at the present period of the 
earth's history are the ones I wish to answer more particu- 
larly. 

The wrangle seems to be, "Did Jesus live, or did he 
not?" and many are at loggerheads over the question. I 
do riot think that those who think he did not live will be- 
lieve me more than they do other spiritual beings who 
have said he lived. There are very many spirits here who 
do not believe he ever lived, and if he were to visit them 
and say, "I am he who was once called Jesus of Nazareth," 
thev would sav, "We don't believe it. You are an im- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 17 

postor. You desire to take credit to yourself which does 
not belong to you/' therefore what matters it? 

Spiritual beings will control mediums and declare 
through them that no such person ever lived. These 
spirits are, perhaps, honest in their convictions, and, 
will not take the trouble to find out; moreover, they are 
like many men who are still on earth, they like adulation, 
they want to be taken as authority, and some of them get 
mightily puffed up with pride and feel that they are great, 
very great indeed; but, my son, as I said before, I have 
taken very much pains to visit this man of Nazareth and 
hear from his own lips his testimony. 

But for the great fact of spirit memory I could never 
have done this. If there had been a Jesus and on coming 
to this world he had been unable to remember anything 
about his past life on earth, all would have been to no pur- 
pose; and if I, as a spirit, had not remembered all that I 
ever heard about Jesus of Nazareth, the very great pleas- 
ure of finding him and conversing with him would have 
been impossible. But when I met Jesus, he remembered 
all about his earth life and was most willing to give me the 
information I wanted. 

Now I wanted proof that he was that very same Jesus; 
and but for memory, I never could have received it. Jesus 
called to him some of his former disciples; then he made 
me acquainted with many others who had lived at Jeru- 
salem during his life there; and, one and all agreed that 
this was the veritable Jesus; and, as through many wit- 
nesses a thing may be considered established, I am certain 
that he was Jesus, and all those whom he and I met ad- 
dressed him as that very same Jesus. There was not a 
dissenting voice, so I felt perfectly safe in listening to 
what he might have to say to me, for bear in mind that I 
remember. 

I asked this man of Nazareth if he would give me a 
private interview — if we could be alone and undisturbed 
for a time? He smilingly assented and we were left to 
ourselves. 

Perhaps, my son, you would like to know first, some- 
thing about our surroundings. When I found him he 
had just dismissed a large audience of spiritual beings, 
and they were now slowly leaving one of the grandest halls 
of learning I have ever seen since I have been in this 
world. This hall was large enough to hold about one 



18 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

thousand souls and appeared to be of the finest white 
marble veined with gold. The roof was domed, its color 
Mas pale blue, flecked here 'and there with fleecy white 
clouds. Within this dome a complete system of w r orlds 
was represented — sun, moon, planets and stars. It was 
our own sun's system, Carlyle, my son, and words cannot 
give you an adequate idea of its beauty and grandeur. 

There were regular seats in this beautiful hall, for spir- 
itual beings, when quiet and attentive, seat themselves as 
you do on earth. The chairs were apparently of shining 
gold, cushioned with red velvet. The windows were of 
fretted and stained glass, most enchanting to behold. 
There were three marble steps leading up to the rostrum, 
the floor of which was covered by a carpet of green plush, 
and here and there in its patterns were tufts of violets and 
small bunches of roses. The wall of the rostrum w r as a 
half circle with a surpassingly beautiful stained window in 
the center of it. I looked at this window in surprise, for 
upon it was pictured a crucified savior, nailed to the cross, 
and below the cross a representation of Mary with the in- 
fant Jesus. A large open Bible lay upon an elegantly 
cushioned desk — the desk being of gold and precious 
stones. The chair in which Jesus seated himself was, ap- 
parently of gold and crimson velvet, and I took another 
wherein blue and gold predominated, for he had said, "Be 
seated, Herr Franz/' in mild, gracious, silvery accents. 

Now I was exceedingly surprised at all I saw, but not as 
much so as I was at many other incidents which had hap- 
pened to me since I had joined the heavenly host. 

"What wouldst thou of me?" he asked, turning his 
luminous, heavenly eyes full upon me. 

I caught my breath, for I wanted to ask innumerable 
questions, and so I made reply: "I have so many questions 
that I would like you to answer, I hardly know where to 
begin." 

I had met this son of man previous to this, but that had 
been in an elysian field, where he was seated at table with 
many other of his disciples, if not his former ones, they 
were his present disciples. 

"Suppose," he suggested, "you begin at the beginning." 

"The beginning of what?" I faltered. 

"The beginning of the beginning," he made answer. 

"The beginning of the beginning? Well," I said. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 19 

slowly inhaling my breath, "can yon tell me anything 
about the beginning of the beginning?" 

""No" he made reply, and as his eyes met mine their 
magnetic power was wonderful indeed. 

"Then, if you can tell me nothing of the beginning, 
perhaps you can tell me something about God?" 

"Perhaps I might be able to tell you something about 
God," he answered, if you were to inform me just what 
kind of a God you wanted to know about." 

"What kind of a God? Why, it is supposed there is but 
one God." 

"I know nothing about one God," he answered. 

"But you said on earth that you were the only begotten 
son of God, did you not?" 

"I never did," he made reply. "I simply said, I and 
my father are one." 

"Well, even that is a curious saying. You have told 
me before what you really meant by that, but I would like 
to tell my son, and others, about it once more." 

"I said, I and my father are one, meaning that I was co- 
existent with that which had produced me, and as that 
which had produced me never had a beginning it could 
have no end. I also said that I should go to my father or 
to that which produced me. I did not refer to my earthly 
parents in any sense, for I was teaching of heavenly or 
spiritual things. I distinctly said my heavenly father." 

"Well, it is just this point that I should like to know 
more about. What did you mean by your heavenly 
father?" 

"I meant that I originated within the heavens — that 
the first cause of my being was there and not of the earth 
earthy." 

"Did you say that you were begotten of the Holy 
Ghost?" 

"I did," he replied. 

"What did you then understand by the Holy Ghost?" 

"I understood then, as now, that ghost is spirit, al- 
though ghost was not the word I used, but as you do not 
understand ancient languages, I will simply say, ghost 
means spirit, as the people of earth understand it to-day. 
Holy ghost simply means pure spirit." 

"You meant, then, that you were begotten by pure 
spirit?" 

"I did. I meant that I— the ego— or the real essence 



20 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

of my life— the real cause of my life— was pure spirit; that 
I had taken on a material form, through the law of grad- 
ual growth, of course, for it is through gradual growth 
that all form is taken on. I meant that I came from the 
Spiritual world, to return to the Spiritual world, which 
was my father, or the first cause of my being. The people 
who lived on earth, at that time with me, could not un- 
derstand me, for they had no idea of any other than a per- 
sonal potentate. I, however, had learned many things of 
the Brahmins of India. I had also been a natural mystic 
from my birth — and I mean by this what men on earth 
mean by sensitive or medium — that is, I was a natural sen- 
sitive or medium, that I stood between my father, which 
meant the spiritual or heavenly, and mankind in general, 
interceding for them, which simply meant praying for 
light and truth that it might be given to them." 
"Did you, when on earth, perform miracles?" 
"I performed many things which were then called mir- 
acles; but the word miracle simply means wonderful — that 
which causes surprise or astonishment." 
"Did you heal the sick?" 
"I did." 

"Did you raise the dead?" 

"I did not. I distinctly said, they are not dead as you 
suppose, but sleeping. In the words of your time they 
were cataleptic or sleeping an unnatural sleep — in a trance 
— and this was true." 

"By what power did you restore them to life and 
health?" 

"By the power of the spirit or spiritual power, for, I 
said, 'It is not I who do these works, but my father in 
heaven who doest these things through me/ and I have 
already told you what I meant by my father in heaven." 



LETTEES FEOM THE SPIEIT WOELD. 21 



LETTER NUMBER FOUR. 



My eyes now rested on the crucifix. "Were you cru- 
cified?" I asked. 

"As you see," he replied. 

"Were you crucified between two thieves?" I again 
questioned. 

"I was," he answered. 

"Were they with you that same day in Paradise?" 

"They were, and their death agonies were equal to my 
own; yet, those on earth waste no pity on them. They 
were to be pitied even more than myself, for they had not 
my hope." 

"Did you appear to the disciples and others, after your 
so-called death?" 

"I did," he answered. "I loved them so much and 
was so anxious they should know my teachings were true, 
that I was enabled to show myself to them. I wanted 
them to know I had simply left my body but was still 
alive and with them; and when I said, 'I ascend unto my 
father/ I meant that shortly I could not be visible to 
them for I should be more ethereal or heavenly; for the 
spiritualized beings who had met me had told me this; 
they were with me at the time, but were too ethereal to be 
seen by those who saw me." 

"Why do you have this cruel looking picture on the 
window?" I asked. "I should suppose you would wish to 
forget anything so repulsive and terrible." 

"I could not forget if I would," he said. "I dislike the 
picture as much as you do, perhaps more, but I am called 
to this hall often to teach and to show myself to the spirits 
yet in prison." 

"Spirits in prison?" I asked. "That will surprise many 
on earth." 

"Very true, and those who come to this hall to hear me, 



22 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and others, cannot believe that they are in prison." 

"How so?" I asked. 

"First, I must tell you how this hall was erected and for 
what purpose. It appears to you a beautiful building, 
does it not, real and enduring?" 

"It certainly does." 

"And yet you are well aware that it is not material?" 

"Certainly; I know that it is a building within the 
heavens and not made with hands." 

"And yet it has been created, not by hands, but by 
thoughts. You know already, my dear Herr Franz, that 
thoughts are real things or entities?" 

"Yes, I have long since discovered that to be true." 

"Well, this beantiful hall has been erected by a large 
concourse of spiritual beings, as a suitable and convenient 
place wherein to teach the spirits yet in prison. Every- 
thing about this building symbolizes something else. It 
is a hall of marble, which is strong, beautiful and endur- 
ing; its whiteness, purity; the gold veining, true worth; 
the elegant windows of stained glass in all colors, sym- 
bolize that all do not perceive alike; the chairs of gold 
signify that all are of worth; the red cushions, that 
Eternal Love holds all souls in an eternal embrace; the 
three steps leading to the rostrum, symbolize body, spirit, 
soul; the rostrum itself, the higher plane from which 
spirits or souls look down and give forth teachings to 
those not yet arrived at their altitude. The dome with 
its revolving planets, we use as symbols to teach many 
great truths, and we may have occasion to use them for 
your edification, my dear Herr Franz. 

"At last we come to the picture that you questioned me 
about. The picture means sorrow, agony and death of 
the material body, that man may attain to the glories of 
heaven, or become an immortal, spiritual being, dwelling 
within the heavens or the ethereal world. The woman 
and the babe mean that we all must be born into the flesh 
before we can attain to wisdom and self-consciousness; 
then, from the flesh, to sorrow, agony and death, before 
reaching the glorious happiness of self-conscious, wise, 
immortal angels, dwelling forever within the ethereal or 
celestial world." 

"You spoke of spirits in prison. Perhaps I do not 
quite understand your meaning. Will you kindly explain 
to me exactly what you do mean by that expression?" 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 23 

"My dear friend/' he said, "I do not now come in direct 
contact with the men of earth, but I teach spiritual beings 
who do. Like yourself, for instance. You come in direct 
contact with your son who is still an inhabitant of the 
earthly sphere. You have come here to me to be taught — 
to ask important questions and receive truthful answers. 
Many other spirits come here for the same purpose. The 
greater part of them having left their mortal bodies, firmly 
established in the beliefs taught in the Catholic, Episco- 
pal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and various other 
denominations, they are still bound in these chains — they 
are bound hand and foot — and are in prison; their souls 
are dark — they do not understand the truth — they all, to 
a man, woman or child, expected to see God directly, and 
when they were told that no one had ever seen God as a 
male, personal potentate, many could not, or would not, 
believe; and they cry out for Jesus Christ — the Savior of 
Mankind! 'If we cannot see God, let us see Christ — the 
beautiful Christ. Jesus lived and died for us. Let us 
see him at least/ and when they are informed that Jesus 
of Nazareth is within the heavens, their delight knows no 
bounds; and when kind friends bring them to this hall — 
and other halls like this — for there are many, very many 
of them here, they enter, their features take on a satisfied, 
pleased and often enraptured expression; they feel at home 
in a hall like this. It is somewhat like the ones they have 
left on earth, and yet exceedingly more beautiful. They 
take their seats in silence as of old in the church, and are 
ready and eager to hear. This is one of the numerous 
ways in which many of the spirits yet in prison are taught, 
and as soon as their minds are enlightened they go to their 
friends in the mortal life, as you will shortly go to your 
son, and tell them that which they have learned, and when 
they cannot tell their friends direct, they inspire some 
sensitive, or medium, to teach from the rostrums of earth 
the same truths which they have thus learned." 

My dear Carlyle, it is well that mediums should be edu- 
cated and understand grammar, l?ut because many of 
them do not is no evidence that they may not be controlled 
by high intelligences. Many of the even very great 
spirits who control mediums, never spoke the English lan- 
guage at all, and know nothing of its grammatical rules. 
Jesus, himself, knew nothing of the English language. 

Spirits photograph incidents and thoughts upon the 



24 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

sensitive brain of a medium; the medium then expresses 
the thought in his or her language, which is often un- 
cultivated. I, myself, for instance, was a German by 
birth and education. No one ought to expect that a Ger- 
man born and bred would on all occasions be able to ad- 
here strictly to the rules of orthography and syntax of the 
English language. 

Many complain and say, the spirits do not do them- 
selves justice. We beg to differ from them. Spirits have 
given through ignorant sensitives about all the world 
knows at present of the celestial spheres, thinking it better 
to give truth to the world through vulgar lips, than not 
to give it at all. Spiritual beings could not give the light 
through highly educated people at first, for they were too 
well grounded in the ideas they had received with their 
education. As I look now to this man of Nazareth, he 
says to me: 

"I, myself, was a poor, ignorant carpenter, at first, for 
carpenters, in my time on earth, were not educated at all. 
I afterwards became, with my followers, a fisherman, a 
calling even still lower than that of a carpenter. I knew 
little or nothing of the rules of my own language in those 
days, in fact, I spoke a smattering of two or three different 
languages and was not correct in any of them. It is the 
thought and not the language that should be considered." 

I will go on with my subject. As the man of Nazareth 
sat there together with me, he clasped my hand in his, and 
his beautiful eyes rested with interested complacency 
upon me — those beautiful, magnetic eyes! I can never, 
never forget them. I feel their glance even now., although 
this particular interview was many years ago. 

"When sensitives say they receive teachings from Jesus, 
they are right," he went on slowly and thoughtfully. "It 
may be compared to pouring water down through several 
vessels before it reaches earth. Do not think that my in- 
terest for the inhabitants of earth has abated one jot or 
tittle since I entered this life. My interest. is greater now 
than ever before. Those on earth may call this my second 
coming if they choose. I am able to go to them now with 
power and great glory, for I, together with a multitude of 
enlightened spirits, do descend to the earth, and they Bay 
truly, it is the second coming of Christ; for the things 
which I did, they now do also." 

In my native land, Germany. I was taught to call all 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 25 

great teachers Master, so now I address this man of Naza- 
reth as Master — or Dear Master — which really here means 
nothing more than teacher — great teacher. 

"Dear Master," I said, "I wish I might be able to make 
the people of earth understand just how it is here. If I 
could it would make them better and happier. I know 
many there seem to think we have no objects — no abiding 
places — something like as if we were roaming around 
through space at will and when they read about this beau- 
tiful hall they may not believe it. How can I bring these 
truths home to my son and others?" 

Jesus sat in deep meditation for a space: 

"My Dear Herr Franz," he said at last, "I know of no 
better way than to state the exact truth about these mat- 
ters. Some will believe, others will not. Some on earth 
believed me when I was with them, others did not. I 
fear, my dear pupil, that you will be obliged to bear this 
burden even as I did — even as I now do." 

"When I first came to this life," I said, "I was greatly 
surprised to find that animals existed after the death of 
the body, just as I did; and, in my book, 'The Discovered 
Country/ I stated that fact. A howl of derision and dis- 
belief came up to me; but, Dear Master, it is a fact, as you 
and I both know." It is just as impossible to destroy the 
life of an animal as it is that of a man. Life is life, wher- 
ever found, and life cannot be destroyed. The ego within 
an animal sees, hears, feels and thinks as does man; he also 
breathes and has various organs like those of man. 
Strange that man should suppose that he alone was im- 
mortal. The animal's thought may not equal the thought 
of man, but that counts for nothing where immortality 
is concerned and many on the earth, since that book was 
written, have come to know the truth. The earthly world 
is fast coming to understand more how it is with us here. 
If the people on earth could once understand that there 
is no limit to space, that the ethereal world extends for- 
ever and ever, they would see that there is room enough — 
and to spare — for all the earthly worlds are capable of 
producing. The earths do not endure forever and for- 
ever, but when an earth has produced all that it is capable 
of doing, it becomes old and dies, or is disintegrated, re- 
turns back into its former elements, what there is left of 
it that is not capable of covering spirit with matter. 

We cannot get beyond earths and their influences, and 



26 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

they cannot get beyond our influence. We influence 
nearly everything that takes place on the earths. Men 
get a new thought or a new invention and it is some spirit- 
ual being who impresses that thought on his mind. We" 
progress in wisdom and return and give it to earth's chil- 
dren. We discover great natural laws, we then impress 
these truths upon the minds of men, women and children, 
that the earthly world may be benefited thereby. The 
spiritual essence, or life principle, of all that the earths 
produce, lives on forever. The life essence of a tree is 
still a tree — a flower a flower — and thus of all natural ob- 
jects. Man as a spiritual being rises to a world of spiritual 
objects. Man creates homes, halls and temples of learn- 
ing on earth; he also creates them here. They first exist in 
his mind or spirit as a thought, he clothes his thought 
with material substance; these things also exist here 
within his soul or spirit, he clothes them with spiritual 
substance, they thus become objective and useful to him 
and others, as they do on earth. 

So in this communication when we speak of houses, 
halls of learning, spiritual temples and so forth, do not be 
surprised, for we certainly have them. When we speak 
of animals, do not think it false, for they do actually live 
here as there, in their spiritual forms. How mankind 
ever came to believe that animals did not exist in the 
spiritual world, is a mystery, certainly; but we think it 
rests on a few words found in the Bible, to this effect. 

"Can you tell me, Dear Master, the true meaning of 
those words — 'the spirit or soul of a man goeth upward, 
that of a beast downward?' " 

"Yes," he replied with a smile. "I can tell you. Surely 
the meaning is this: A man's spirit is above that of a 
beast or animal, his wisdom is above that of every other 
creature on earth, consequently his spirit rises above that 
of the animal, the spirit of the animal forever remaining 
beneath that of man. This is the true interpretation of 
that passage in the Bible, and if the former language in 
which the books were written had been rendered aright, 
such a mistaken idea would not have found lodgment in 
the minds of men. Does it not in those same books speak 
of beasts in heaven bowing before the throne of God 
together with the elders? and were not the prophets — in 
other words, mediums — constantly speaking of boasts, 
seeing them in their visions, and so forth?" 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 27 

"How often do you lecture in this hall, Dear Master? 
I desire to come and hear you." 

"This hall is very near to earth," he replied. "I teach 
in many others far above this. When I do speak here I 
am obliged to bring my subjects down to the comprehen- 
sion of those who assemble here, and they are those who, 
as I said, are in prison, bound in the chains of a former 
creed, looking with distorted vision on all things spiritual. 
Therefore if you were to report one of my lectures to the 
people of earth, they might deride you. But we are ac- 
customed to derision, are we not, Herr Franz?" 

"You speak truly, Dear Master." 

"There will gather another assemblage here very 
shortly. You can remain if you like. I will do the same. 
There will be others here who will speak to the spirits in 
prison, as well as myself, others far wiser than I am, hav- 
ing been in the celestial world for many thousand years. 
You may not be able to repeat to earth's children all that 
is said, but many of the truths uttered you will remember, 
and will be able to impress upon them, or photograph 
them on the brain of a sensitive, or perhaps many sensi- 
tives or mediums." 

"Dear Master, one word more before we separate. Tell 
me, is reincarnation true?" 



28 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER FIVE. 



"Is reincarnation true?" 

"It is not," Jesus replied. "It is an error, and there 
will be some here assembled who are still bound in the 
chains of this ancient superstition." He now looked at 
me with his great, penetrating, lovely eyes, intently. 

"Can I return to earth and take on the form of a babe 
once more? Could I thus waste my acquired wisdom and 
my spiritual powers? Surely, my earthly life must have 
been in vain if I were to become once more an infant and 
toil up again into manhood; moreover, what good could it 
possibly do me? Earth is dull and crude, while the 
celestial world is filled with wisdom, gladness, beauty and 
goodness. I can learn more here in a day of earth's time 
than I could there in a year — it may be in a century. 
But, aside from all this: When once an immortal being- 
is developed from a germ it can by no possible means re- 
turn to an undeveloped one, and no developed entity can 
ever become an undeveloped one. Natural laws do not 
work in that way. Forms constantly arise, but they in- 
variably are new, not old ones made over. 

"Herr Franz, you and I both know that we could not 
become undeveloped germs again." 

"It is said on earth, that some remember a former 
reincarnation." 

"They are mistaken," he replied. "A spirit, or perhaps 
various spirits are holding them in subjection, and it is 
the memory of these spirits impressed upon the minds of 
these sensitives and not the memory of the sensitive him- 
self. Children are very susceptible to such apparent 
memories, for sensitive children are very early influenced. 
I was but a child of twelve years when spiritual beings 
first made use of my brain with which to confound the 
rulers in the temple. Anything that spirits desired to 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 29 

say, they could have said through me at that early age 
before my own mind had developed enough to understand 
what was being said through my tips" 

I have had many interviews with Jesus since that time, 
and I remained to hear his discourse, which was given 
shortly afterward. There were two other spirits with 
him, at the time, to aid him and corroborate all that he 
• might say. I shall not, at this time, give a detailed state- 
ment of that which was uttered by these grand and noble 
teachers; but return to matters which more nearly concern 
my present intentions. It would be impossible to tell 
those of earth a tenth part of that which we have ex- 
perienced, or have been taught by those above us in wis- 
dom, but as much as those of earth can make use of for 
the benefit of the world. This is all that we can do. The 
earthly world is moving on gradually and slowly toward 
truth. Little by little we give as fast as it can be assimi- 
lated. Twenty years ago a man or woman was con- 
sidered insane who believed that animals existed after 
death. I wrote "The Discovered Country" some twenty 
years ago, and that was as soon as it could by any possible 
means have done any good, and my son has had to suffer 
to the extent of thousands of dollars for allowing my book 
to be published; but oh, how much I desired to make the 
world understand this great truth. My son did not be- 
lieve it himself; but now more than half the Spiritualists 
in the world believe this great truth, and very many who 
are not Spiritualists. 

This is one long stride toward wisdom and truth. My 
soul sings for joy that I have been able to accomplish 
more, even, than I expected. 

Now when men of science begin to understand that the 
spiritual germs of all things exist within the ethereal 
atmosphere and are not propagated down — or up — 
through generations, they will strike the great root of 
eternal truth — when they can be made to understand that 
the male parent inhales living germs and holds and makes 
use of a few of them because of his positive male element 
he is able to do so, and that a man never was evolved from 
a monkey or any other animal except merely the gradual 
evolution of his material form — that the germs of every 
thing in existence reside within the atmosphere to be 
breathed in by all and held by the male parent, each in its 
own kind or species, and that the flowers of all vegetation 



30 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

attract and hold the germs corresponding to their own 
species. When science sets itself right in this respect, the 
earthly world will move on faster than it does at present. 

This truth has not been accepted as readily as the fact 
of animal existence after death. It seems very strange to 
us here, that man cannot see this great truth: But all life, 
of whatever kind, exists first within the heavenly ether as 
germs, and without these germs there would be no life 
whatever on the earth and no developed forms within the 
celestial world. 

It is not our intention to elaborate these great truths 
here, for we have already done so in "The Discovered 
Country/' "Oceanides," "Mary Ann Carew," and "Philip 
Carlislie," also in my other stories which have been pub- 
lished from time to time in various periodicals and weekly 
papers. 

We do not write in vain, or simply to tickle the public 
ear or fancy, but for the great eternal, everlasting truths 
of heaven, and to help to eradicate erroneous ideas. It 
is better always, to know the truth than to believe error, 
for the truth shall make men happy and free. If there 
were no errors of opinion on earth all men would be 
happy — there would be no sorrow, all would be joy as it 
is in the higher heavens. 

Men and women both say: "0, our lives are hard and 
sorrowful;" and every error that is removed from earth 
brings happiness that much nearer to mankind; for every 
misery that people endure let them think well what is the 
cause of that unhappiness, and they will invariably find 
that some great natural law has been transgressed by 
themselves or others. I will not here undertake to specify 
the laws thus transgressed: This has already been done in 
the books and stories that have been written by myself 
and other spiritual beings, and we hope to be able to write 
many more, for each law needs a large book written to ex- 
pound it, and, even then, it is but just touched upon. 
The ocean is made up of drops, and so we must never tire 
of giving little by little as opportunity presents itself. 

Very much more might be known of the life within the 
celestial world, and will be known when natural laws are 
fully understood. If there are those on earth who can tell 
what kind of men and animals lived thousands or it may 
be millions of years ago, simply by joining remnants of 
bones together which have become fossilized, how much 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 31 

more ought man to know and fully comprehend of the 
life after the death of the material body; and yet mankind 
has, after all, arrived at something approximately the 
truth. He has said: "Man lives after the death of the 
body." In this he is right. He says, "There is a heaven 
and a hell for the spirit of man after death/' and in this 
he is also right, for by heaven and hell he really means 
happiness and unhappiness and a wise and good spirit is 
happy after death, an ignorant and degraded one un- 
happy. His mistake has been in supposing the fate of the 
souls of men were unalterably fixed. This is not so. 
Another fatal mistake has been in thinking that the 
atoning blood of Christ could cleanse from sin. But I 
need not enumerate. There is much truth and many 
errors in the present belief of mankind, but the time has 
now come when he wants to know positively — when he 
must have proof — and that day is not far distant; but 
whether on earth or in the celestial world no soul can be 
happy, or perfectly so, until every vestige of error has 
fallen away from it. So, do not be in a hurry to come 
here in an undeveloped condition and be more unhappy 
than you are in the earth life. 

Natural law intended that a man should live until he 
was, at least, three score and ten years of age. The ex- 
periences of earth life are absolutely necessary for him in 
order that he may be wise and happy. 

Of course, I am well aware that children, youths and 
middle-aged persons die and come to this life; but they 
really ought not, and if natural laws were thoroughly 
understood and obeyed they would not. 

It is thought by some that spirits who have been in the 
celestial world for many thousand years, lose all interest 
in material earths and the affairs of men, but this is a 
great mistake. 

Carlyle, my dear son, go out some fine evening and look 
at the countless host of suns, moons, earths, planets, and 
then think, as is the truth, there is no end to these. All 
those stars which I see are but suns to other systems of 
worlds which I cannot see, and after my sight has reached 
to the uttermost limit of its power the countless hosts still 
exist beyond all human sight. Now a spirit goes out into 
the ethereal world, it cannot get beyond the countless 
hosts of earths, moons and all other heavenly bodies; the 
material and ethereal are forever blended. No spiritual 



32 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

being can possibly get beyond being interested in earthly 
and material things. If spirits are not interested in one 
earth, and its affairs, they are in another; and can any- 
thing be more natural than for a spirit to be interested in 
the earth on which he himself first came into conscious 
existence? Now, my dear son, I shall tell you precisely 
how it is in the celestial world, you, and others, may not 
accept what I say as truth; but, nevertheless, it is the 
truth and it will be scientifically demonstrated sometime 
on earth, for- spiritual beings will impress men of scientific 
attainments with the facts which they will at once act 
upon and give the results to the world. 

The higher or more progressed spirits from various 
planets, often meet together, midway between the various 
planets, in immense conclaves, something after the style 
of an enormous camp meeting; they thus remain together 
for an indefinite period and those who have attained to 
great heights in wisdom ascend what might be called a 
rostrum and impart their knowledge to all the spirits 
there assembled. Now at these conclaves there are great 
masters in all the various branches of knowledge and 
whatever new law or new truth has been discovered is then 
and there revealed to all assembled, and when each one 
has imparted his knowledge to all, in this way, they break 
up and go their several ways; each one has his own work 
to perform; they scatter and again return to the various 
earths to impress men, women and children with the great 
truths which they have learned. That is the way the 
lower is forever receiving from the higher. Many on 
earth think that all thought emanates from their own 
brains. This is not true. Nearly all higher thoughts 
and ideas are given them from the spirit world. 

My dear son, you know that I have been away from you 
for quite a length of time; and, during my absence from 
you, I have attended one of these conclaves, and I never 
can express to you the joy and satisfaction I have ex- 
perienced while there. Think, my dear son, of a vast 
assemblage of spiritual beings — all of the wisest and best 
who have lived on quite a number of different planets — 
meeting together and each giving to all the new truths 
that they have discovered — all the natural laws which 
they have learned more about. 

Now spirits there have ties which attract them, one and 
all, back to some earth. There may, possibly, be long 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 33 

intervals of time between their visits, or there may not be, 
according to the work which they wish to accomplish, and 
there is no end to this work and no cessation whatever. I 
do not mean by this that spirits do not have periods of 
rest, but these periods are only for the purpose of being 
able to do more and still more. There never will be a 
time, throughout eternity, when it will not be necessary 
to work for the good of those who are coming on after us, 
for creation never ceases her efforts, and no angel whom 
I have ever met can think of a time when it will. After 
spirits have met in these large conclaves, far removed 
from any planet, they return into the spheres of the dif- 
ferent earths, or one may call them planets, and within 
these spheres, as I have before stated, there are beautiful 
halls and temples of learning; schools for the young; 
homes, and all spirits have homes — they can make homes 
wherever they wish to — and here they work continually, 
teaching, lecturing, impressing, photographing, and are 
engaged in all sorts of employments. 

There are those here who study agriculture, and they 
study the laws appertaining to tilling the soil of earth, then 
they put themselves en rapport with intelligent farmers 
and impress them how to work to the best advantage and 
bring forth the best results. There are others here who 
have mechanical ingenuity, they study the laws appertain- 
ing to mechanics and then put themselves en rapport with 
mechanics; and thus of every trade and employment that 
the earth knows anything about; and so with all great 
musicians, and even those who are not great; so of all 
artists of whatever kind; so of all great inventors, who- 
ever they may be, and of small inventions as well; in fact, 
everything which interests the spirits still within the body 
interests the spirits out of the body; everything which you 
have on earth we have something here which corresponds 
to it. 

You have camp-meetings there — we have large con- 
claves or camp-meetings here — and we meet in celestial 
fields of heavenly beauty. If you have music there, we 
have grand orchestral choirs here, which often make the 
heavens resound, and the ethereal atmosphere vibrate 
with exquisite harmony. 

Let no one on earth get at all discouraged under any 
circumstances whatever, for nothing more can happen to 
any one than to leave his material body and as soon as he 



34 LET r J ERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

leaves it behind he may go right on toward the accom- 
plishment of his desires, all but the getting of money; he 
can never obtain, by hook or crook, a single penny after 
he leaves the material form; but he can obtain all that 
money could possibly bring him on earth. 



LETTER NUMBER SIX. 



If a spirit wants a beautiful home here in the heavens, 
he has only to create it himself; and if his soul is beautiful 
and his thoughts are beautiful and his desires pure, his 
home here will be according to his desires. If he wants 
exquisite clothing, if his soul is beautiful, pure and clean, 
his clothing will be correspondingly lovely. If he desires 
love and companionship, the true other half of himself 
awaits to be joined to him. He meets here all that he has 
lost on earth — wife, children, father, mother and friends, 
and he can be forever united to them if he so desires, or 
he can be united to whatever is congenial to him. One 
can be in heaven and still remain on earth if one desires; 
and this is really the one great cry of the inhabitants of 
earth: "Oh, we want to be happy!" for happiness is 
heaven, whether found on earth or within the celestial 
world. 

Well, why are you unhappy? What is wanting to make 
you happy? One says: "I want more money!" Well, 
money is of no value whatever. You mean you want the 
things which money would buy. Well, you can never 
have anything more on earth than food, shelter and cloth- 
ing. Have you a shelter which is comfortable? Have 
you food sufficient to nourish the body? Have you cloth- 
ing to keep it warm? The most of you will say: "Yes, we 
have all this." 

Then, if you have, look about you and see who has not. 
and when you cease to find anyone who has not, and you 
have helped everyone to get them that you have found 
who has them not, then you may commence to desire more 
eleganl clothes, a more beautiful home and more delicate 



LETTERS FBOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 3o 

food. But do not make yourselves at all unhappy about 
it, for the most unhappy souls we come in contact with 
are the very rich; their food doesn't agree with them, as a 
rule; the objects of beauty, by which they are surrounded, 
they did not create, and, consequently, do not appreciate; 
for beauty must exist within the soul to be held at its true 
value; and it is the beauty created within one that gives 
true happiness. 

You may wish that your clothing was more fashionable 
and elegant. The ugliest and most unlovable people 
whom we ever come in contact with are, as a rule, dressed 
in the extreme of fashion, which usually cramps and ren- 
ders miserable both body and soul; and the most beautiful 
beings we have ever met, have been attired in a loose, flow- 
ing garment of simple texture, soft and modest in color, 
and wholly inexpensive. 

Now there are spirits who come to this life who are in 
hell or unhappiness, plenty of them, and many are a long- 
time in learning how to be happy. The most unhappy 
spirits whom I have ever met were exceedingly wealthy 
when on earth. Money, and the position it gave them, 
was about all they thought of. When there they were 
authoritative to those they consideied their inferiors. 
About all the talent they possessed was that of acquisitive- 
ness, how they might overreach somebody, in other words, 
rob some one. They had no ennobling qualities whatever. 
All the grandeur and beauty about them they had pur- 
chased for money, it did not originate within their souls; 
so, when they come here they are cold, shelterless and 
hungry. They have no money to buy anything with, and 
if they had, nothing could be bought; everything they 
possess must be within themselves and their outward 
clothing will correspond to what they are within them- 
selves. Now perhaps it would interest you to know how 
some of them are clothed. 

A hard, avaricious, grasping man, enters this life. He 
has never felt pity or commiseration for the sufferings of 
others. He passes through the gate of death, enters the 
spiritual. He has been wholly bound up in self and what 
he could gather to himself. He may have spirit friends 
here, but he had no love for anyone but himself, so his 
spirit friends are not particularly attracted to him, and 
even if they would benefit him his soul is hard and repel- 
lant; and, so, oftener than otherwise, lie is all alone; there 



3G LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

is no beauty within him, so his surroundings are bare and 
barren for he naturally gravitates to a plane corresponding 
to his inner self; his countenance takes on a fierce, scowl- 
ing, ugly expression; his hair corresponds and is stiff and 
wiry and naturally takes on a dark, black color; his hands 
correspond to his inner nature and they take on the ap- 
pearance of grasping claws; he is usually stooped in his 
shoulders; his legs are thin as his body, also his arms; his 
feet are often very large and deformed, for. he is of the 
earth earthy, consequently his feet become flat and large. 

Now his natural spiritual garment is shrunken and 
shriveled up, for the spiritual garment corresponds to the 
soul, the mind or the spirit. His legs and arms are, as a 
rule, covered with bristly hair, for the nearer a soul ap- 
proaches the selfishness of the brute creation, the nearer 
the spirit's appearance approaches the appearance of the 
brute. 

I have seen many a man and woman, too, who had been, 
on earth, worth a million or more, with spiritual clothing 
so shrunken and shriveled that it was scarcely sufficient 
to cover them. I also said that some spirits here were 
cold; and this is true, for if a man has been devoid of 
warmth of soul and generous feeling, his spirit corre- 
sponds and becomes cold and chilly and has not warmth 
enough in it to be comfortable. 

Now there are no houses or shelter of any kind here that 
can be purchased for money, consequently a spirit can 
have no shelter except that which it creates for itself, or is 
created for it by some loving spirit who is deeply in- 
terested in him, and if he is incapable of creating any- 
thing he is often left without shelter of any kind; so, you 
perceive from what I have said, that the very rich man 
who comes here is often cold, naked and shelterless, and 
his starving soul is so hungry that he is nearly like a 
ravenous wolf and that which is offered him he will not 
accept, for love and wisdom are the true foods with which 
to nourish the soul, and if one has not love within his soul 
he is starved, and if one has not wisdom he hungers un- 
ceasingly. So, man of earth, sock not wealth more than 
will make the body comfortable; after that, add to your 
spiritual riches, for the wealth of the spirit you can take 
with you into the celestial life. Your life on earth is very 
short at the most. 

Now all these things that I have said are strictly true 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 37 

as one will find when one arrives here; and there is a large 
concourse of people coming here from the earth all the 
time. It never ceases for a moment, no more than the 
waves of the ocean cease to beat the shore. 

It is a great pleasure to us, my dear son, to be able to 
write you concerning our life here. We know more or 
less about your life there on earth, but people of earth do 
not, as yet, know so much about our life here. This is 
not as it should be, for according to natural law the 
knowledge should be reciprocal. If we have the power of 
knowing of your life, there is no reason why you should 
not know of our life — no reason except not understanding 
the laws which govern the interchange of thought, or 
thought transference. Hypnotism, telepathy and thought 
transference are great eternal laws and will soon be better 
understood, and those who are the first to understand 
them hold a great power for good in their hands. 

How happy one ought to be who holds this power, for 
cannot one do much toward bringing all the world into an 
understanding of it? I knew very well when I wrote 
"The Discovered Country," that most of the world at that 
time would hold you up to derision; but derision and 
sneers seemed of little moment to me compared to the 
incalculable good which the world would derive from it 
sooner or later, for not a truth which I wrote in that book 
will ever die, and I did not, knowingly, write a single un- 
truth. In every story I have written since that time, all 
the principles embodied in them are true and the most of 
the incidents. I have, sometimes, taken the privilege of 
the novel writer, and strung the incidents together to suit 
my purpose and have often placed the incidents to the 
credit of the hero or heroine to keep up the interest of the 
story or the plot; but whenever I have done so, I have in- 
variably called the book a psychic novel or romance, for I 
Avould deceive no one. My object in writing is truth and 
only truth. Of course I can give these truths in a much 
more interesting form by using the freedom of the novel- 
ist. Many novelists write pernicious or untrue things; 
the principles underlying them are false; the reasoning of 
very little account; and in their stories they try to cater 
to those who are in power, or influence the imagination of 
the sensualist, or to please and excite the baser element in 
mankind — to please the multitude and fill their books 
with as much sensational matter as possible. These 



38 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

things I have not done. It is not necessary; for where I 
hold the knowledge obtained from my experience in both 
worlds in my hands I find a greater amount of truth 
which I can make use of than could be found in untruths 
or false principles which lead downward toward destruc- 
tion. 

While I was engaged in writing my books, other spirits 
became deeply interested, desiring to do the same, as the 
psychic whom I used was one of the best for this purpose; 
and there were those who would have liked, very well, to 
have pushed me to one side; for many here have not for- 
gotten the habits of earth-life; but to these I turned a deaf 
ear, for I had full control of my medium. I was your 
guardian and teacher in the form of matter and I have 
constituted myself the same since leaving the earth and 
ascending higher, consequently I have allowed no one to 
gain control of my psychic but those whom I knew would 
not abuse the privilege. 

When in London, Charles Dickens' spirit became in- 
terested in you, and I also became intimately acquainted 
with him. He is so noble and good, desiring only to 
benefit humanity, that I gladly gave up my place to him 
for a season, that he might write a few books or stories. 

"A Celestial Wanderer" is a true account of his entrance 
into the spiritual world, and he therein tells of his expe- 
rience for quite a length of time. His other works have 
been written somewhat as mine were, to elucidate some 
great truth or spiritual principle; and we both have suc- 
ceeded much better than we at first anticipated, and we 
hope to succeed far better in the future. 

Some have said that Mr. Dickens' style was not the 
same as when on earth. In "A Celestial Wanderer" he 
explains the reason why it is not. First of all, he is 
writing through another personality. Second, he does 
not care to retain the same style he affected on earth; and 
that particularly humorous style he affected more whilst 
he was a young man; in later life he became more spiritual 
and pathetic, and now that he has crossed the silent river 
he is thinking more deeply of the great truths he has to 
give to the world in all seriousness, than how he may 
please the people by affecting the humorous, or, as he now 
looks at is, holding up immortal souls to ridicule; and. 
after all is said, it Is bill the thought which he transfers 
or stamps on the brain of the psychic; but, whatever sneers 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 39 

may come up to us will not deter us from our great and 
most important work. 

Now another grand soul, whom I love and who I have 
reason to think loves me, desires to write a book, and I 
shall be only too glad to step one side and allow him to 
do so — and this grand being once bore the name of Robert 
G. Ingersoll. 

Now he and I are both aware of the incredulity, jeers 
and sneers, by which we shall be assailed, but it will, not 
hinder us in the least. 

If he stood before the world with his battle axe, striking 
down error, for so many years in earth life, meeting in- 
credibility, insult, jeers and sneers, he has the courage as 
a spirit to fight a little longer. 

"Yes," he says to me, for he is again standing by my 
side, "yes, I will fight error and battle for the truth and 
right throughout eternity, if I am permitted to do so/' 

Mediums, as well as spirits, are often frightened and 
deterred from doing all that might be done, by the cry: 
"Oh, some deceive. Spirits affect to be some one who was 
great on earth." If the great ones of earth are not allowed 
to communicate through mediums, who should be 
allowed? Must they pretend that they are simply John 
Smiths, that they may be able to give a message to the 
lower world? They do not wish to falsify or prevaricate, 
but if they cannot be allowed to give their messages they 
must do so in order to be heard. We are well aware that 
there is an immense amount of fraud, also that what is 
called drivel comes through the lips of many so-called me- 
diums; but every sensible man or woman ought to be able 
to tell chaff from wheat. Even a school boy does not call 
husks corn, or think they are. A medium may be ever so 
illiterate and yet be a sensitive upon whose brain a re- 
nowned man or woman in the celestial world may be able 
to impress some great thought, thinking it better thus to 
do than not to give it at all. If you separate the chaff 
and the wheat too soon, the wheat may decay in conse- 
quence, for, sometimes, apparent fraud covers a great and 
eternal truth. A great, grand thought may be given 
through illiterate lips, in ungrammatical sentences, which 
are the husks or covering of the wheat. Sometimes a 
remarkably fine ear of corn is concealed by shriveled and 
unsightly husks, so, for a season at least, the spiritual 
world think it best for the chaff and the wheat to remain 



40 LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

together; the time for the winnowing is not yet, and in 
pulling up the tares the wheat may he destroyed. 

A thousand minds are turned toward Spiritualism by 
its phenomena; much of this is fraud pure and simple, but 
the mind begins to inquire and at last arrives at a great 
deal of truth — moreover — spiritual beings always stand 
ready to manifest if possible. None of these things will 
deter Robert G. Ingersoll from writing his book. Nothing 
ever deterred him from saying what he thought when on 
the earth, and nothing will deter him now. 



LETTER NUMBER SEVEN, 



Perhaps, my dear son, it may interest you to know 
something of my surroundings. At the present time it 
pleases me to have a beautiful home — to live quietly in it 
with my lovely wife who, as you well know, is my own 
other self or the true counterpart of my being. Of course 
our children are all married and living for each other in 
whatever way pleases them best. All our grandchildren 
are situated in the same manner. We have arrived at that 
time in our career when we leave the care and teaching of 
our children to those not so far advanced as we are. Our 
home is more beautiful than anything you have ever seen 
on the earth, and yet it corresponds with many things you 
have there. It is a large building, for we often take help- 
less new-born spirits in and care for them until they are 
able to care for themselves. Helena busies herself in 
caring for unfortunate and helpless women, teaching 
them right and true principles, thereby rendering them 
strong and able to take care of themselves, or fitting them 
to care for helpless children who come here before they 
ought. Our home is built out of what appears to be the 
finest mother of pearl. Imagine the most beautiful sea- 
shell you ever saw, and then imagine it many times more 
beautiful st'll, and you will get a just conception of the 
material used in the construction of our home. It has a 
great number of rooms and they are all large and grand, 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 41 

for I loved, when on earth, all that was grand and beau- 
tiful. We have an immense music-room filled with all 
kinds of musical instruments, another large hall given up 
to teaching and instruction of all kinds, in their various 
branches of knowledge and art; we also have an immense 
parlor, or reception room, wherein Ave receive spiritual 
visitors; and whenever we desire to see a person of note, 
we have only to earnestly wish or will, and immediately 
the vibratory waves set up in our ethereal atmosphere 
reach the sensorium of the spiritual brain or camera and, 
if convenient, the spirit will come to us, or if not, we go 
to the home of the one. whom we wish to see. 

Now, Carlyle, I am not writing you a tissue of false- 
hoods, but the real and exact truth. 

Spiritual beings would not be happy floating around 
through space without object or home of any kind any 
more than people are or would be on earth. Human be- 
ings can thus float around, if they desire, without home 
or shelter, picking up what stray stuff they may be able to 
find; but when they do they are called tramps or vaga- 
bonds; and it is the same here with this exception — all 
who will receive wisdom, it is ready for them for the tak- 
ing or asking, nothing compels them to remain in poverty 
if they do not desire to, but our poverty and riches are of 
the mind or spirit. 

Now we have something here which corresponds to 
eating or sleeping; so we have a large and elegant dining- 
hall wherein we receive many guests. We do not cook 
food and eat it as you do, but we are seated at table to- 
gether with our guests and while we daintily partake, ap- 
parently, of bread and fruit, water and wine we hold long 
and animated discussions on all the questions which inter- 
est mankind, also all those which interest spiritual beings, 
and you may be sure we have enough to talk about. 

Our rooms take on the appearance of beautiful apart- 
ments in earth life, for all beauty in art originates here 
first and is transmitted to sensitives on the earthly plane; 
that is how you get models of beauty there, except what 
nature furnishes you; and our musical instruments are 
made — or are so delicately constructed — that the vibra- 
tions of sound only vibrate the ethereal atmosphere, con- 
sequently the sounds are not audible to dull, earthly ears. 
Our rooms appear to be carpeted with soft carpets of rich- 
est texture and exquisite pattern. I forgot to mention 



42 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

that we have also a large library of valuable books, tor 
good and true books exist here as on earth — so, be careful, 
authors, that you write nothing to be ashamed of when 
you arrive here. We have elegant seats, tables, and 
beautiful furniture of all kinds. Our sleeping or resting 
rooms, are fitted up with couches and misty, white drap- 
eries; but all these things we create with our minds and 
the thoughts become objective things which we can enjoy 
and others with us. So, dear ones of earth, exercise your 
creative faculties to their fullest extent; it will well repay 
you to do so, for they are some of the treasures which one 
lays up in heaven or within the heavenly or celestial. 
One can no more live here, within the ethereal, without 
creating or thinking than one can on earth; the difference 
being that one's thoughts become objective or visible and 
one is surrounded by them. It really is so on earth, but 
the duller senses do not take cognizance of them. One 
is surrounded by one's thoughts, and most sensitives feel, 
or perceive these things clairvoyantly. 

How often you will hear some people say: "I don't like 
this or that one; I detest him or her; I feel creepy all 
over when in their presence." How often those in earth 
life, who do not heed these things, are deceived, betrayed 
or finally robbed or ruined because they did not heed 
them. 

I wrote to you in "The Discovered Country" that the 
spirit existing within all things which have life, ascends to 
this life, when those things appear to die or decay on 
earth; and this is true; consequently, we have everything 
here that you do there; we have vast forests, plains, 
mountains, rivers, seas, oceans, vegetation of all kinds, an- 
imal and insect life in their various forms, flowers, shrub- 
bery, rivulets, ponds; nothing at all is left out, but on the 
contrary much is added that you have never seen, for we 
have also all that the past can give. 

Now it has been said on earth, and we have heard these 
sayings, that there would not be room enough within the 
celestial spheres to hold all these things. We think those 
who can say this must entertain very cramped notions of 
eternity. Do such minds ever stop to consider that eter- 
nity has no bounds or limits — that it is forever and for- 
ever? 

T know it is hard for one to conceive of this, but how 
can one nnt boundaries t<> never-ending eternity or space? 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 43 

Still, there is a limit or end to the forms that the earth 
produces, but the limits are so vast that a mind on earth 
could not possibly take them in. 

Eternity is filled with forms of all kinds, and eternity 
has no beginning or ending bounds or limits. So, when I 
tell you, Carlyle, that our home is situated near a beauti- 
ful lake, it need cause you no surprise. The lake bears 
the same correspondence that lakes do of earth. The 
ethereal water is just as much heavier than the ethereal 
air as the water on the earth is denser than the atmos- 
phere, and within the waters here, glide beautiful fishes 
— the spirits of those that have died on earth, and it is the 
same with our animals, they arise up more and more 
beautiful, one sphere above another, but nothing propa- 
gates its species here. All propagation is on the mate- 
rial earths and the earths cannot and do not propagate 
more than the celestial worlds need — moreover, nothing- 
is crowded here and there are vast areas of space — so vast, 
indeed, that the mind of man cannot even conceive of 
them — wherein no form yet exists. 

When wild animals die on the earth, their spirits rise 
into great spiritual forests which are so wild and gloomy 
that human spirits seldom or never visit them; when great 
sea monsters die, or smaller fish, their spirits ascend and 
find homes within boundless spiritual oceans. Your 
globe of earth, that seems so vast to you, is but a small 
speck, or like a grain of sand, compared to eternity and its 
eternal heavens. It is simply that the mind of man can- 
not grasp these things. 

Forms come up through the material, not that they 
may perish, but that they may be conserved to fill eternity 
with beauty and intelligence — not only the intelligence of 
mankind, but the lesser intelligence of beasts, birds, reptiles 
and fishes — these forms to nature are just as beautiful as is 
that of man. Do you ever stop to think, my dear son, 
that there are other earths, or planets, in space, whose in- 
habitants are so much beyond the men of earth that a 
man to them would appear as a reptile does to man on 
earth. Such is the fact, however; but the dwellers of 
those planets are too wise altogether to say: "Oh, the rep- 
tile man, on that small, insignificant earth cannot be im- 
mortal" — for they well know that all forms whatever are 
immortal and imperishable. Why the forms of every- 
thing you have on earth are contained within a small ethe- 



44 LETTKKS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

real germ — spiritual germ — which must be held within all 
earthly seed, whatever its kind, and ?ach after its kind — 
and right here is where man makes a fatal mistake, for the 
spiritual germs of everything in existence or that ever did 
or ever will exist are forever within the ethereal atmos- 
phere, and as this ether penetrates through the material 
atmosphere the flowers of all vegetation attract and hold, 
each its kind; so of all animals, so of all men. Men and 
animals breathe or inhale these germs; the male, or posi- 
tive element, holds what can be made use of, the others 
escape — for they are indestructible in the exhalations of 
the breath or through the pores of the skin or through 
any or all organs of the body. The first form of any- 
thing does not hold the seed of all that is to come after, 
within itself. Such an idea is absolutely ridiculous, but 
the parent of anything forms the seed of that which is to 
immediately follow, by having the power to hold the spir- 
itual germ. Forms have gradually evolved one after an- 
other, but they do not evolve the spiritual germs, but each 
male form is able to hold germs, which he inhales from 
the atmosphere, for the next generation which is to fol- 
low; this, then, completes the circle. At the age of 
puberty the next generation inhales and holds other 
germs which are the seeds of a future generation, and this 
is true of all vegetable and animal life. 

Now you ask me about heredity. The spiritual germ 
has nothing to do with heredity. It is absolutely pure 
and undefiled, but as it takes on its first material clothing 
from the being who holds it, the flesh inherits all, or at 
least many of the traits of the parents. The father first 
clothes the ethereal germ in his blood and if his flesh is 
filled with vileness he clothes the germ accordingly and is 
even more responsible for the hereditary tendencies of 
the child than the mother. She does not furnish the life 
or the living principle — the germ — she is negative and 
has not the power to hold them — she is female — but she 
furnishes the egg, or ovum; the germ therein finds lodg- 
ment and is nourished by the contents of the egg until it 
has taken on sufficient material to be hatched or thrown 
into the material world. If the germ is that of a mam- 
mal the egg falls, after a short time when it is ready, into 
the womb, there it is nourished by the blood of the mother 
until ready to be born. 

Heredity is simply that which is inherited from the ma- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 45 

terial with which the father or mother has clothed the 
germ. This is also the reason why children resemble their 
parents, but the soul, the inner principle, is not tainted in 
the least, for sooner or later, either in the material, or 
spiritual, or celestial life, it becomes perfect as at first and 
has progressed up through the material, the spiritual, the 
celestial gradually throwing off all impurities on its course 
until it is a God-angel, or arch-angel, or the wisest and 
best angel that man can possibly conceive of and man can- 
not conceive of such an angel while yet he is so small and 
unprogressed as to be a man within a material body. 

But nothing is mean — nothing is insignificant — noth- 
ing can ever be. We are not the makers of anything that 
exists, consequently we have no right to despise anything 
whatever, not even the smallest insect or worm. Life 
does not originate with man; he simply observes it, and 
the nearer he approaches angelhood the less he feels like 
despising anything that exists within the universe, for all 
is God; All is God! 



46 LfcTTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 



LETTER NUMBER EIGHT. 



There is no innocent pleasure or happiness that is de- 
nied to the spirit of man, and he can also indulge in vi- 
cious pleasures if he is so inclined; but, when one once 
thoroughly comprehends that all vice, of whatever kind, 
leads directly to misery, unhappiness — in other words, 
hell — he will not indulge in vice nor break natural laws if 
he understands them. It is the spirit or soul which really 
enjoys anything and not the material body, as some seem 
to think; and as the soul ascends higher and higher in the 
spheres its pleasures are enhanced more and more. 

The material earth is but one sphere, yet it is not the 
first sphere or beginning. The germinal sphere within 
the ethereal atmosphere is the first sphere — that is, as far 
as I myself know. The earth sphere is the second sphere; 
the celestial sphere is the third sphere; and from thence 
the spirit rises into many spheres which are not necessary 
to be enumerated here; but our world is filled up with de- 
tails like your own. Man lives on earth perhaps for three 
score years and ten, possibly more. It seems to him as he 
moves along through life that it is all made up of small 
details. He often becomes quite impatient with the 
smallness of them, but his whole existence is made up of 
seconds, and minutes, hours, days, months, years, and it is 
the same here. 

We do not count time as you do, to be sure, but our lives 
are made up from small details or events, and we count 
our time from one event to another, the small events of 
our own lives and the great events that mark off eternity. 

I would like now to tell you a little about our journeys. 

On the earth you travel from one town to another, you 
travel from one ocean to another, you travel from one 
country to another, you travel around the globe, and so 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 47 

forth. We travel from one place to another, we travel 
from one sphere to another, we travel from one planet to 
another, and sometimes we take a turn through the zone 
of the milky way, as it is called on earth, but, in reality, it 
is another vast zone of innumerable worlds; suns, moons, 
planets and earths. I here simply speak. of these things as 
you understand them, for nearly all planets are earths ex- 
cept the suns, and these are not, as will sometime be dis- 
covered; it will also be discovered that all the suns are 
dual in their nature, the real bodies of the two being com- 
posed of elementary principles, and it is the play of two 
elements back and forth which causes light and heat. 
The real bodies of the suns are not visible to man, nor 
could they be, owing to the blazing light which they gen- 
erate, and this light is really a burning, flaming light, and 
combustion is the cause. 

You have often seen the lightning's flash, have you not? 
and you know that the cause of the lightning is the meet- 
ing of two elements, and as they meet one sets fire to the 
other and an explosion follows which gives the bright 
flash. Now the two elementary bodies of the sun act in 
precisely the same way; as each one revolves, each throws 
off its elementary principle, and as these elements meet, 
one sets fire to the other and combustion is the result. 
The real bodies of the sun are not as large by many de- 
grees, as some astronomers think. Nothing is ever seen 
of the sun but the result of these two forces; the blazing 
light is seen but not the two bodies of the sun itself. 

In my book, "Oceanides," also in "The Discovered 
Country/' I have given a detailed account of these two 
bodies and how they first came to exist, and if I had not 
visited the sun in person I should not be able to tell you 
about it. 

Astronomers have yet much to learn — and their vortex 
and fire-mist theories are not the correct ones — neither is 
the moon an old and worn-out world, but a baby world not 
yet fit for habitation — and it is a child of your earth, yet 
in leading-strings. Who, for one moment, can suppose 
that the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are old worn-out 
worlds? No; they have been thrown off from these plan- 
ets — they are their children. 

All nature moves in circles or families, with father, 
mother and children — or positive and negative principles 
producing a third form, and thereafter many other forms. 



48 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

The spirits who dictated Camille Flammarion's book 
were right. They made no mistake for the latest little 
moons discovered have but lately come into being and 
have not been sufficiently modulated into roundness as to 
be hardly visible even with the best telescopes. Such 
spirits as would control this great astronomer do not 
falsify as a rule, but it is very hard for them to make peo- 
ple understand all which they wish to convey. If the 
psychic had been a fine, negative lady, much better re- 
sults would have been obtained. True mediums are 
nearly all to be found among the female sex. Males are 
altogether too positive and the greater part of the fakirs 
and frauds are to be found among them; still, there are a 
few inspirational lecturers and many inspirational writers. 
Among the inspirational writers might be mentioned An- 
drew J. Davis, Hudson Tuttle, Joseph R. Buchanan, 
James M. Peebles, E. D. Babbitt, W. E. Coleman, J. S. 
Loveland, Moses Hull. Many of these are also inspira- 
tional lecturers. Lyman C. Howe, J. J. Morse, W. J. Col- 
ville, and many others — and here let me say that Robert 
G. Ingersoll was really an inspirational lecturer and 
writer, although unknown to himself; but it is neverthe- 
less a fact that he was really used by a forceful band of 
spirits to do as he did, and help the spiritual world to 
crush out the false that the true might find a place. But 
my friend Robert was not quite spiritual-minded enough 
to see clearly into the spiritual realm, and did not know 
that he was being used by spiritual beings; yet there were 
times when he was surprised at himself, and he often said 
to himself, "If there are spiritual beings who inspire us 
mortals, I think they must have made use of me to-day," 
or this evening, as the case might be; but, then, on the 
other hand, he often ascribed all to his vivid imagination, 
not really understanding what the word imagination 
really means. Image, or imagine — imagination. The 
image of something impressed upon the brain, and these 
images or thoughts are nearly always impressed or imaged 
on the brain of a sensitive, or as is often the case on the 
brain of a strong and robust person, but the brain of such 
is usually very sensitive, or of fine, strong quality. 

Yes, Robert G. Ingersoll was a true medium, all un- 
known to himself, and was literally obeying the behests of 
higher intelligences within the spiritual or celestial 
spheres. He has now met many of these guides face to 



LETTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 49 

face and they have had a good laugh at his expense, and 
he has laughed with them as heartily as they and as joy- 
fully as the happiest of them. 

My son, as I am with you much of the time just now, 
hecause I wish to write you these letters, I heard you when 
you asked, "Why were so many musical instruments 
needed in my home?" as you are well aware that I played 
no instrument but the piano. If you were here yourself, 
one of the first things which you would desire would be to 
meet many of the great masters in music. Bach, 
Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, 
Rubinstein, Wagner and very many others; besides you 
would like to take part, I know, in a grand orchestral con- 
cert in company with them. This was really one of the 
first things which I desired, and whatever one desires here, 
the wish is surely gratified. You were well acquainted 
with some of these great masters yourself, and often 
played with and for them, especially Liszt and Rubinstein, 
and you know that they are often with you in spirit. 

Now what more delightful to me than to have an im- 
mense music room wherein these great and honored mas- 
ters may meet or visit me in person? Not that I was ex- 
ceedingly great when on earth, yet the grandest music was 
within my soul, and they consider me one with them as 
they will also consider you when you arrive here. What 
more delightful, I again ask, than to take part with them 
in a grand orchestral concert ? and to have all the various 
instruments represented. Oh, we make the heavens re- 
sound sometimes, be sure of that. If I have a beautiful 
home such as I have described, think what the homes of 
these glorious spirits must be? If mine is beautiful, theirs 
are transcendingly beautiful, and all differ. No two are 
alike, because no two souls are alike, and their homes cor- 
respond to themselves, for from their own minds they 
build them; consequently, Helena and myself like to go 
abroad and visit their homes, and we have many, many 
invitations; for these great masters often send for us as 
we send for them. How else do you suppose heaven can 
be heaven to a great musician unless he could enjoy his 
art and give joy to others by the exercise of it? A great 
lecturer or teacher like our Robert, for instance, could not 
be happy unless he were imparting to others his ideas 
and receiving their thoughts. A great astronomer like 
(■amille Flammarion and others, could and would not be 



50 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

happy unless he were able to visit the heavenly bodies — 
the suns, moons, stars, and planets — and discover all that 
he possibly could about them and then return to his native 
earth and impress his knowledge on the sensitive brain 
of others whom he was able to reach. 

And authors? How could great authors be happy un- 
less they could be interested in booki and the art of 
writing them? 

I have often heard you say: "Poor Du Maurier! He 
did not live to enjoy his success." Therein you are wrong. 
He lives and could never have enjoyed his reward — public 
approval — as he does now. Who so interested as he when 
the play, taken from his book, is performed to his satisfac- 
tion. Why you ought to see him at such times. No soul 
could be happier. The most unhappy beings of all who 
are in spirit life are the men and women who have given 
all their energies and mind to the accumulating of money 
and have not cultivated the higher faculties of the soul. 
These are the most wretched, the most poverty-stricken, 
and oftener than otherwise are homeless vagabonds, going 
about in rags and tatters, for their souls are often so pov- 
erty-stricken that they are not able to clothe themselves 
as spirits ought to be clothed, 



LETTERS 1 ROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 51 



LETTER NUMBER NINE. 



There is one point that I should like to make you and 
others clearly understand. There may be those who do 
understand it well, but there are many who do not, and 
it is this: 

Distance is simply that which lies between. For in- 
stance, if nothing intervened between the earth and the 
nearest planet, there would be no distance between the 
earth and that planet. Astronomers tell you that there 
are millions of miles intervening between the earth and 
the planets. What constitutes these miles, do you think? 
Not entirely the earth's atmosphere, for that does not 
extend even one thousand miles. Then what is it that lies 
between? There must be millions of miles of something 
or there could not be millions of miles of distance. 

Now, my son, I will tell you, for I am a spirit dwelling 
within this substance, and this substance is the ether, or 
the ethereal atmosphere. Atmosphere may not be, and is 
not, the proper word, but ether or ethereal substance is, 
for if ethereal substance can be measured and calculated 
by miles, it certainly is of vast importance, and if all space 
is rilled by this ethereal substance — a substance that can 
be weighed and measured — think you that these vast dis- 
tances have nothing at all within them? Oh; quite the 
contrary. They hold the sublimated essences of all things 
that grow or live on the earths, besides the elementary 
principles that produce all material things. The elemen- 
tary principles first exist. They take form within the 
material and those forms then exist as forms within the 
ethereal or celestial world. The spiritual world is not 
composed of spheres alone, but is comprised within all 
space and distances between the globes or spheres of more 
material matter; but we have planes and never ending 



52 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

planes of existing things. I am well aware that the 
human mind can scarcely grasp it, and there are millions 
of spirits whose minds cannot grasp it as yet; but there 
is room enough, time enough, throughout eternity for all 
to live, for all to grow, for all to become wise, for all 
eventually to be Gods in their own right and in their 
own way. 

All spiritual forms arise up and away from the material, 
but before rising they often make themselves both seen 
and felt. A dying rose, as it arises from the material, is 
materially sensed by its perfume, which is really the 
spiritual substance of the rose arising on its way to fairer 
climes. The spirit of a man or woman often makes its 
presence known in a very material and sensible way. 
Sometimes it is seen, sometimes felt, sometimes by the 
sense of hearing, and sometimes a combination of all 
three — seeing, hearing, and sensing — before it arises to 
fairer climes; and after it has once arisen, it may and 
can return and manifest its presence in various ways as 
conditions permit; but we consider the best way of all 
is by the art of thought photography — using the material 
brain of a medium as a camera and from thence impress- 
ing the sensitive spirit of the medium, which may be com- 
pared to the sensitive plate of the photographer. 

I would like to pause here for a moment to address one 
who is well-known on earth, also in the spiritual world: 

Mr. Babbitt — Dear sir: — My medium is much con- 
cerned because the same thoughts have been impressed 
upon your spirit, or brain, or both. All herein written, 
up to the present moment, was written before our medium 
saw your article in the Banner of Light, in answer to Mr. 
Dawbarn. Do not be at all surprised at this, my dear sir, 
for spirits hasten to correct erroneous ideas as soon as 
possible and they can find the proper channels through 
which to do so. Our medium has just read your article 
and at once exclaimed: "Oh! now people will think thai 
I obtained my ideas from Mr. Babbitt." But let us hasten 
to say that this is not the case. Spiritual ideas and an- 
swers to all sorts of questions are given through various 
mediums at the same time; and at the very moment that 
you were writing your article to the Banner of Light, \w. 
were also writing through this channel almost identically 
the same thing, your plane and that of the medium being 
about the same. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 53 

Now there is one other question that I wish to touch 
upon, and that is the atomic theory. This theory was not 
taken from your book by our medium. At the time of 
writing "The Discovered Country/' and other books, our 
medium did not know that there was such a person as Mr. 
Babbitt in the world — had not at that time ever read one 
word of your writings. No, my friend, we tell you the 
truth. Truth given by spiritual beings to the earth is 
given through various channels at the same time, the 
mediums not ] cnowing or ever hearing of one another. 
This should be evidence to those of earth that these things 
are really from a spiritual source. 

Now, Mr. Babbitt, respected sir, you are as fine a me- 
dium as exists on the earth to-day, and many, very many 
high intelligences use your brain and spirit to give beau- 
tiful and grand truth to the lower world; but there are a 
few others who are used at the same time, and are as much 
surprised as yourself, when they find that others have re- 
ceived the same thing at the same time. 

But, my dear sir, Aristotle, the old Grecian philosopher, 
taught the atomic theory over two thousand years ago. I 
wrote "The Discovered Country" about twenty years ago, 
and my medium had not, at that time, read a word of 
Aristotle, and knew nothing whatever of his ideas of 
atoms. I, Franz Petersilea, wrote the book, through my 
medium, by what is called automatic writing — that is, the 
medium was in a comatose or partially unconscious con- 
dition — and I, finding my opportunity, seized the hand 
and wrote the book, at this time not being able to use the 
brain as a camera — the camera being, at that early date, 
too obscure or clouded by errors and false teachings. 

Now, if I, as a spirit, could not remember, everything 
that I have tried to do would be in vain. Mr. Babbitt is 
right when he says that the higher vibrations here within 
the ethereal atmosphere, cause the spirit to remember with 
greater distinctness than before. The higher vibrations 
bring out the pictures wherewith memory is stored, more 
vividly. 

The wearied brain of one in the earth life may be com- 
pared to an indistinct or partially faded negative that the 
photographer with his art, or knowledge rather, must 
bring out bright and clear; and this is what the higher 
vibrations do for us. Our ethereal atmosphere is as clear 
and sparkling as is possible for human beings to conceive, 



54 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and our memories are just as much clearer than formerly 
as our atmosphere is clearer than that of earth. 

A man looks in water and his image is somewhat 
blurred and distorted, he looks in a good mirror and sees 
himself clearly, and there is precisely that distinction be- 
tween our images of memory here and when we were 
there. 

Now, in the book which I wrote called "The Discovered 
Country," I wrote my experience precisely as it occurred 
to me, thinking it certainly could not fail to interest the 
people of earth. It was my duty to write it, or so I felt; 
and if my soul sternly told me what I ought to do, I felt 
compelled to do it; and consequently did it. I knew that 
my son would have to suffer much in consequence, never- 
theless my soul sternly commanded it, and I obeyed, and 
the consequences were as I expected they would be, or as 
wiser spirits than myself told me they would be. My be- 
loved son lost all his former prestige, together with the 
financial benefit accruing therefrom; slanderous tongues 
assailed him and his great powers as a piano virtuoso were 
now passed by as of no account. This grieved me much, 
even as a spirit, for I had given a large part of my earthly 
life, and all the means at my command, to educate and 
put the finishing touches to this child of genius. He had 
been put under the best masters of music that Germany 
could afford, such ones as Moscheles, Liszt, and many 
others, and at a very early age he astonished even them 
with his wonderful facility and correct interpretation of 
the higher class of music, and when he played from the 
great master, Beethoven, they were enthusiastic in their 
praises of his inspirational rendering of the great com- 
poser's music. How little they then comprehended that 
the great master himself was filling his youthful frame, 
and touching with his spiritual fire the brain of this sensi- 
tive pupil. How ready the world was then, after his re- 
turn to America, to fall at his feet, so to speak, in adora- 
tion of his genius; but, when I his father, who had but 
lately entered the celestial world, wished to help thai 
same world and tell them something of this higher life, 
they turned upon my innocent son and rended him. 

He knew no more of this life than they did, but he was 
a great sensitive, and as I had always controlled him 
when I was in the body, I found on leaving it I could still 
control him and I did not hesitate to do so; but twenty 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 55 

years of earthly time have passed into eternity since then, 
which seems but a few days to me, owing to clearer and 
higher vibrations, and still my son has not been reinstated 
in public opinion. 

Mothers say, "Oh, he is a Spiritualist! We don't want 
our children taught by a Spiritualist, even if he plays like 
an angel — even if the spirits of Beethoven, Bach, Handel, 
Haydn, Mozart, Rubinstein, Wagner, Chopin, Liszt, or 
any other of the great masters are really animating him." 
Mothers, listen to the voice of a father who loved his son 
as much, and perhaps more, than you do your children — 
who still loves him as you will still love your children 
when you, too, shall come here to be with us in the spirit- 
ual realm. Do you know what it means to be a Spiritual- 
ist? If you do not I will tell you. It means all that is 
good, pure and holy. It certainly means this to my son. 
It means that heaven can communicate with earth. It 
means that the souls of the departed great and gifted ones, 
who once dwelt on earth, can be with and influence your 
children to be great, gifted, pure, and good. It means 
heaven. It means knowledge, wisdom, love and truth. 
It means all that is virtuous, and it means happiness, 
immortality — everlasting life. 

How will you feel, oh mothers, when you come here, to 
find that through your own neglect and wrong teaching, 
you cannot reach the children of your love, for you pur- 
posely kept the knowledge of the truth from them when 
you were with them in the body. You taught them to 
despise one whom you called a Spiritualist. Oh, you will, 
as I did, shed many bitter tears of regret — you will strive 
to undo the wrong which you did, and find, as I have 
found, that in trying to do so you will be the means of 
bringing your children into disrepute and financial ruin. 
Oh, you will say, as I have said: "If I had but informed 
myself on this great and important subject and taught my 
children the truth when I was still with them in the form, 
my soul would now be singing for joy;" but the stern dic- 
tion would be: "Return, 0, Soul, and do the work which 
you failed to do when on the earth." 

There is no escaping it. The law is immutable, un- 
changing; for, unless this were so, all progression, either 
on earth or within the celestial world, would be at an end. 

Suppose, oh, mothers, you were to leave your loved ones 
for a season and go to a foreign land to pay a visit — to see 



56 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

new sights never seen before — to hear new sounds never 
heard before — to have delightful experiences never had 
before — that you had left your heart at home with your 
loved ones — your children, and husband, mayhap — how it 
would delight you to write to them and tell them all 
about the wonderful things you had seen and heard — how 
you would like to tell them of the beautiful country you 
were in and wherein it differed from the one you had 
left — how you would like to tell them how much you still 
loved them, how much you thought about them and of 
the gifts you meant to send them — suppose, when they 
received these letters they should sneer and say they did 
not believe a word of it — did not believe the letters were 
from their mother — it was nonsense! Letters from a far 
country could not possibly reach them. If they could not 
from their mother — it was all nonsense. Letters from a 
far country could not possibly reach them. If they could 
not see you, you were not; or, at the very best, so far away 
that to know anything about you was impossible. And so 
your messages were flung away without being opened or 
read; your children refused all knowledge that you might 
be able to impart to them; and, if added to this you had 
taught them to do this very thing before you went away, 
do not you think you would be grieved — sorely grieved — 
and would not you justly lay the blame to yourself? Sup- 
pose that you availed yourself of the telegraph and tele- 
phone — the Atlantic cable telegraph, and your children 
heard the clicking of the receivers at the stations and on 
hearing those raps or clicks they should laugh and sneer 
and say: "Do you think that my mother would con- 
descend to such puerile methods as clicks and rappings?" 

And you had taught them to laugh and scorn them 
yourself before you went, and by so doing you could not 
now when you so much desired it, get a word to them of 
any kind. How would you feel? 

Perhaps one of your children would inform himself or 
herself a little on the subject of rappings, clickings and 
messages, or even go so far as to give a little thought to 
telepathy, or thought transference, and that child's mind 
should reach out lovingly, longingly toward you in the 
distance, and that child should say: "Oh! mother! How 
I want to see you, or if I cannot see you how much I 
should like to hear from you. I would like to know 
where you are and how you are enjoying yourself. I 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 57 

want, oh, so much, to know if you are well and happy, 
what you are doing, and all concerning you and the new 
country you are visiting. Now I am going to receive and 
read these messages that they tell me you have sent. I 
am sure I shall know my own mother's writing and the 
way she expresses herself, and I shall feel her love for me 
in these messages if they are really from her." 

And when he had read your letters and messages, he 
knew at once they were from his own dear mother, for 
no other could or would write to him like that; also, he 
should listen to the telegraph dispatches, and hear the 
distant voice of his beloved mother through the telephone, 
and he could doubt no longer, but know that you were 
communing with him, and in his satisfaction and delight 
he should tell his brothers and sisters of the fact and show 
them some of the dispatches and letters, what would you 
think, or how would you feel, if these who would not 
believe, thrust the one who did out from his home, 
branded him as an idiot, or a credulous fool, and would 
allow him no privileges that by right belonged to him, and 
he went forth nearly heart-broken at their treatment and 
unbelief, also by treating him as they had done they had 
robbed him of the very means of existence — they had 
taken the very bread from his mouth, simply because he in 
his generosity had tried to put the bread from heaven into 
their mouths — or, rather, the mouths of their minds. He 
had tried to make them happy in the knowledge he had to 
give them and in return he was driven forth as an outcast 
and branded a Spiritualist, so that the sneers of those in 
his profession might tear his sensitive heart and rend his 
soul asunder with grief. 

Now this is what you are doing, oh, mothers, fathers, 
brothers, sisters, for the world is all one family. No one 
is so capable of teaching your children as the sensitive, 
inspirational one, who has the higher spiritual intelli- 
gences at oneness with him, and no one living could be 
more careful of the morals of your daughters and sons 
than the one who knows that eyes of the pure angels are 
upon him at all times and know all that he does, every act 
he commits, 4 every thought even that he thinks. The pure 
eyes of the angel mother, the observing eyes of his father 
long since within the celestial life, besides all the heavenly 
hosts. 



58 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER TEN. 



My dear son, I have long desired to write to yon of 
spiritual correspondences, and now find my opportunity: 

As I come in contact with many emanations from the 
minds of men and women of earth, I find that much un- 
certainty prevails among them as to our mode of existence 
here in the celestial life. Some seem to think that noth- 
ing exists here except the higher spiritual portion of men 
and women; all else is null and void, and these go floating 
aimlessly about through space, their sole purpose being 
that of progression — and why progression? Simply that 
they may be in bliss or happiness. 

Well, to say the least, such a motive on their part would 
be the height of supreme selfishness. 

Now, I seem to hear the reply: "But they desire wisdom 
that they may impart it to others below them." Yes, 
here a grand truth is struck; but what do they desire to 
know about, and the answer should be: The eternal, un- 
changeable laws of the Universal Whole. Now it is this 
Universal Whole that I wish to talk about. If the souls 
of men and women roam through space or ether, and 
there is nothing there but ether — no forms of any kind 
but themselves — how would it be possible for them to 
learn anything? It is true that they might be able to 
impart to each other the wisdom already obtained on 
earth, but that would soon become exhausted, and then 
what? Why, of course, a dead level; eternal progression 
would be impossible and the highest spirits could not get 
a step beyond this level. 

The most of those of earth, with whom I come in con- 
tact, believe that we, as spiritual beings, retain the same 
form that we bore on earth. Herein they are right. Our 
forms are the same, and we possess every organ that we 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 59 

manifested through the earthly body. In fact, when the 
spiritual life is withdrawn from the earthly body, it is 
dead and the life of every organ is still intact within the 
spiritual form. 

Now if these organs exist, they certainly exist because 
there is need of them; otherwise they could not retain 
their power or form and nothingness would be the result. 
Now if a spiritual being is possessed of feet, those feet are 
for the purpose of walking, and if there were nothing but 
ether to walk upon, a spirit would not be able to walk at 
all. If there are spiritual feet, there is a corresponding- 
spiritual earth to walk upon, and this spiritual earth is as 
dense to the spiritual feet, correspondingly, as the mate- 
rial earth is to material feet. If any on earth can gainsay 
this logical truth, let them say their say and follow out 
their logic to its ultimate conclusion. If there is a spirit- 
ual earth — as there certainly is — it is not a barren waste, 
for if it were the material earth would be far more useful 
and beautiful than the spiritual. Can any person of 
mature mind on earth come to such a conclusion as this? 
No ! All must naturally and truthfully conclude that the 
spiritual earth must be exceedingly more beautiful than 
the material earth, and in order that it may be useful and 
beautiful, forms must certainly exist upon it. The beau- 
tiful and useful are eternal verities that do not and can- 
not perish; consequently we have in spirit life every form 
that ever existed upon the earth. A form once developed 
can never perish, for that which developed the form is the 
spirit of that form and cannot die. So when I speak to 
you, my son, of spiritual spheres wherein are oceans, seas, 
rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, valleys, trees, shrubbery, 
flowers, vegetable and animal life, be not dismayed, for I 
simply tell you the truth; they are spiritual verities and 
correspondencies. When I tell you of cities, towns and 
villages, I tell you the truth, for spiritual beings construct 
these things to suit their convenience and pleasure. The 
higher and more exalted the spirit, the more beautiful its 
surroundings which it has constructed about it. Every 
faculty of the mind and body which those of earth possess 
they still retain when freed from the body, for all these 
things were of the spirit and not the body, the spirit 
simply making use of the material while encased within 
it; and the sole reason why it is encased within it is, that 
the tender, ignorant, innocent spirit may have protection 



60 LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and sufficient covering until it is developed enough to 
get along without it; in other words — be strong enough, 
and developed enough, to be fitted for the higher, grander, 
more spiritual life in store for it. 

Now if every faculty of the mind exists, it is certainly 
for the purpose of use. If a spirit did not make use of 
each and every faculty that it possessed, those faculties 
would soon become dormant and perish. Nothing can 
perish, consequently each faculty is made to serve some 
grand purpose; each faculty must grow, and grow on for- 
ever; and, what transcendent heights each faculty may 
attain! A spiritual being has eyes and can see, but if 
there were nothing but ether or space to look at, what 
need of sight? 

You may say, "Well ; they could look at each other." 
Granted; but I fear the eye would become wearied and 
long for change, for even at that a dead level would soon 
be reached and the eye would deteriorate and lose all 
power of seeing any other form than a representation of 
itself. No, dear friends, such is not the case. The spir- 
itual eye is capable of seeing every form that ever existed 
or ever will exist within the universal whole, and countless 
millions of forms that have never been seen on earth, be- 
sides. 

Now, if a spiritual being retains all the faculties that it 
possessed while in the material form or casing, as certainly 
all must admit who believe in continued existence, is it 
not clear that all such faculties are for use, otherwise 
those faculties would grow dim and gradually fade away 
entirely and a spirit would fall below what it was as a 
man. We are sure no one would like to think thus, and 
such is not the truth. Nay; but spiritual beings retain all 
the faculties they had while in the body and other facul- 
ties which on earth were nearly dormant or undeveloped, 
are added thereto, and each faculty is capable of endless 
development; but before a soul can become rounded into 
all that is beautiful, each and every faculty must be 
equally developed; those which have not been brought 
into play on earth must be cultivated in the spiritual 
realms until the soul is equally developed in all directions. 
In order that any faculty may be developed it must be put 
to use, and in order that it may be put to use, there must 
be something for it to use, otherwise all would be nil. A 
spirit has the faculty of constructiveness, and there must 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 61 

be existing material which he can use to construct with. 
A spirit has the faculty of destructiveness, and if there 
were nothing which needed to be destroyed this faculty 
would also be nil. A spirit has the faculty to compute 
numbers, and the great eternal law of mathematics exists. 

It sounds strange to many, no doubt, that spirits have 
houses, temples, halls of learning and so forth, and it also 
seems preposterous to many that they have musical in- 
struments, chairs, tables and other furniture, but such is 
the case, however, and when we say that we have land and 
water, boats, ships and so forth, those whom we inspire to 
teach the truth about these things are laughed to scorn 
and called demented, luny, crazy Spiritualists, and so on. 
Now the most of the people who do this are those who are 
called orthodox, but these same orthodox believe in a male 
personality seated on a throne, wearing a golden crown, 
wielding a scepter of gold, surrounded by a host of spirits 
or angels who are clothed in white apparel, wearing- 
crowns of gold upon their heads and carrying golden 
harps in their hands, continually shouting praises to that 
God or king; but when a spirit writes through a medium 
describing a hall of learning apparently of marble, con- 
taining chairs, a rostrum, windows, musical instruments 
and so forth, these same orthodox consider the medium a 
lunatic. 

Who told these same people about the heaven with 
pearly gates, streets paved with gold, white robes, crowns 
and golden harps, also that the spirits o? angels had the 
power of shouting and singing? If one asks them they 
will reply: "Why, inspired men, of course — men inspired 
of God/* How did God inspire them? Did he come in 
person and talk through them? What is inspiration? 
Now we put it to this world of orthodoxy: What is inspira- 
tion? Does God talk directly through these inspired 
ones, or does he send his angels or messengers? The word 
angel simply means a messenger. If you answer, he 
sends his angels or messengers, then we shall ask you: 
Well, how do these messengers or angels inspire men? or 
how did they inspire them? for you do not admit that 
there is inspiration at the present time. We would like 
you to explain the modus operandi. If you say God in- 
spired them directly, then what was his mode of doing it? 
Did he enter the inspired one in person? If you reply in 
the affirmative, then we say that you believe something 



02 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

far more preposterous than any Spiritualist ever dreamed 
of believing, and if the Spiritualist was not more generous 
than yourself, he might, with very good reason apply the 
term lunatic to you; but we will hope the Spiritualist has 
better sense and a more highly developed soul. On the 
other hand if you admit that these men of old were in- 
spired by God's messengers or angels, then we meet on 
common ground, for this is precisely what Spiritualists do 
believe, or rather they know it because they are thus in- 
spired. 



LETTER NUMBER ELEVEN. 



We have, in these letters, been trying to teach just how 
spirits inspire men, women and children, and we are met 
by the assertion that inspiration ceased long ago. After 
all, this seems to be the hair that is split, or the dividing 
Ihie between the Spiritualist and the good old orthodox — 
for they are good, the most of them, they are level-headed 
and are not lunatics or even crazy — but this diverging 
line — let us see if we cannot bring the paths nearer 
together. 

All intelligent people to-day believe that the world is 
more enlightened than formerly; they think that men's 
brains are larger and of finer quality than in the olden 
days; they will tell you of the wonderful achievements in 
the arts and sciences; they will point to the telephone, the 
telegraph, the X-ray, as proof of their assertion, and we 
smile benignly and interestedly and are most happy to 
agree with them; really, we seem to be walking side by 
side with them. Surely, this split hair must be very fine 
indeed — but the point of difference — let us try to discover 
it. When did inspiration cease? Could you point out 
the exact date? Did all inspiration cease with Jesus of 
Nazareth? No; you think his disciples were inspired 
also — Paul, John, on the Isle of Patmos, and many others. 
And did not Jesus and his disciples distinctly say, "Go ye 
and do likewise?" If they were inspired to write, heal 



LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 63 

the sick, make the lame walk and the blind to see, the 
deaf to hear, and they told mankind to go and do likewise, 
pray tell us when and where inspiration ceased? If, as 
you say, yon think inspiration has ceased, then men must 
have degenerated instead of progressing, their brains must 
have become smaller and of coarser texture; but you agree 
wilh me that this is not so. If their brains are larger and 
finer than formerly, are they not more easily inspired? 
Do the} r not more nearly approach the spiritual? A pho- 
tographer will tell you that the finer and more sensitive 
his plate, the better the picture stamped thereon; and we 
tell you, dear orthodox friends, that the larger and finer 
the brain of a man or woman, the better the thought pic- 
tures which we stamp, or photograph upon them; and this 
13 the modus operandi of that which is called inspiration. 
Come, my good orthodox brother or sister, let us walk 
together. The lines do not diverge so much, after all. 
Let us get over the childish habit of making faces, calling 
names and saying, "You shan't play in my back yard." 
Let us be noble, generous, forgiving men and women, 
either in or out of the body. 

Many who philosophise and write of the celestial or 
spiritual life, apparently forget that more than two-thirds 
of all who come here are women and children, and they 
range all the way from the tiny infant to the adult. 
Comparatively few persons live to be aged, and two-thirds 
of all who live on earth are women and children; but 
many writers seem to ignore this fact and seemingly write 
only for those who are capable of deep, abstruse reasoning. 
This is especially noticeable in Spiritualistic writings. 
This is a great mistake and ought to be rectified. 

The average woman, more especially if she be young, 
takes up a spiritual journal, glances over it, then throws 
it down with a yawn. "The dry stuff," she murmurs. "I 
don't understand it, and can't get interested in it. Why 
don't they print some charming stories, something inter- 
esting?" And children never think of reading a word in 
these papers, and as we said before, two-thirds of the 
world are women and children, young men and maidens — 
perhaps more than two-thirds. 

Now this is not as it should be. If this large majority 
could be interested the world would move on more rap- 



64 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

idly. "As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." Very 
few women seem to write for the Spiritualistic press. 
Now this is a great pity, for women writers would interest 
this great majority far more than male philosophers 
possibly can. Nearly all the interesting writing and 
stories of the present time are written by women, but these 
women are not Spiritualists and these books and stories 
contain no hint of the life after the death of the body. 
Whenever the subject is touched upon at all, it simply 
accords with the orthodox standard. We often wish that 
some of the spiritual lecturers and writers would come 
down from their stilts and talk and write so that this 
large majority could fully understand them and become 
interested in what they have to write or say. 

My dear son, Carlyle, from the time I first ventured to 
take control and write, I have tried to write great truths 
in simple language. Simple, concise language seems to 
be greatly needed at the present time among Spiritualists. 
Some of the grandest truths that have ever been given to 
the world have been given through poetry, romance and 
novel writing, for these are especially attractive to the 
great majority, and it is the same here in the celestial 
world. 

How do you suppose we teach this great majority? A 
tiny infant, a small child or even a youth or maiden, to 
say nothing of the average woman and common-place 
man, cannot and do not comprehend abstruse reasoning 
on difficult subjects and problems. It even has been said 
by some writers, that nothing was immortal but the 
higher moral and reasoning faculties of man. I suppose 
they included woman, but they did not say so. 

A babe an hour old has no reason whatever, and young 
children have very little or none. A young calf, a colt, a 
dog, a cat, or almost any young animal one can mention 
has more reason a few hours after birth than a child in as 
many months. Does anyone think of denying that these 
little children are immortal? We are also aware that- 
some writers and thinkers have said that the lower, or per- 
haps the very lowest races of men, were not immortal; 
but these writers and thinkers are certainly mistaken. 
Let me ask those who think thus, where they draw the di- 
viding line? The lower nations of mankind are simply 
infantile in intellect and can no more be denied immor- 
tality than can the infants of the higher races of num. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 65 

There can be no dividing line drawn anywhere. All 
things are immortal. Life is spirit and spirit is immortal 
in whatever form it may exist. The tiniest blade of grass 
is just as immortal as is man. No form, when once at- 
tained, is ever resolved back into elementary principles. 
Matter falls away from it but the form is retained forever- 
more. 

If matter falls away from the spiritual forms of human- 
ity, it falls away from all other forms in precisely the 
same way, leaving the spiritual form intact; for the life 
of anything is its spiritual form more or less developed. 



LETTER NUMBER TWELVE. 



We will now return to our former question: 

How do you suppose we teach all these babes and little 
children that come here? How the youths and maidens? 
Thousands upon thousands of little babes come here who 
never walked, who never talked and had never arrived at 
any reasoning power whatever. We certainly cannot 
teach them through abstract reasoning or, in fact, any 
reasoning at all. They must be taught here precisely as 
they are on earth. 

A child on earth first begins to notice objects about it, 
and we need not follow the chain up. How do you think 
we should get along here with them if there were no ob- 
jects for them to notice? 

I sometimes feel as though I should like to pile about a 
dozen of these little infants not an hour old, into the arms 
of a grey-bearded, abstruse, scientific philosopher, and tell 
him to teach these sucking babes all he thinks he knows, 
as he floats through the ambient ether without an object 
of any kind in sight except other abstruse, moral philoso- 
phers like unto himself. Moreover, I should like to have 
a dozen or more cherubs, of a somewhat larger growth, 
clinging to his coat-tails. But of course, he has not any 
coat-tails, simply a flowing robe and a halo about his ab- 
struse head. 



G6 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Our friend Robert comes in now, and with his hands in 
his pockets, laughs heartily as he says: 

How about the great sex question? These same philos- 
ophers will tell you there is no sex in spirit land. Well, 
if there is no sex it is simply justice that those who deny 
this great truth should have the babies piled into their 
arms. 0! woman, woman! patient, long-suffering woman! 
I fear you must still retain your sex, else the babies will 
not be properly trained and looked after, for I do not be- 
lieve the men — no, not even the great thinkers, will ever 
be able to do it. 

I, Robert 0. Ingersoll, whom many of you are eulogiz- 
ing so highly to-day, stand abased before the mothers of 
the world, for without them neither the earthly nor the 
spiritual worlds could exist at all. If you unsex woman 
here, you will take away the props that uphold all crea- 
tion. If by sex is meant the power of propagation the 
fact should be so stated, for there is no propagation of any 
kind within the spiritual spheres; but thousands of women 
on earth do not propagate their kind, and no woman has 
that power after a certain age which with many scarcely 
reaches middle life. Do you then say she is unsexed — 
that she is neither man nor woman but a sort of hybrid ? 
No, no, friends, that won't do, and she is no more unsexed 
here than she is there. Sex is not only of the body, but 
of the soul, and if the spirit and soul were not sexed the 
body could not be. Now I shall ask the before-mentioned 
grey-bearded, abstruse philosopher and thinker, how he 
would like to be unsexed, be neither man nor woman? 
He would be obliged, in that event, to lose his beard in 
which he takes such wondrous pride, and I greatly fear 
that the whole catalogue of unsexed angels would leave 
the children and babies to take care of themselves. 

Friends, these are hard facts, and I here and now attest, 
with my signature, that I have here found women to be 
women and men to be men in every sense of the word, for 
without the co-partnership and union of the sexes abso- 
lutely nothing could exist. There would be no homes 
here, nor on earth, wherein men could rest, no love except 
the merest friendship, no homes wherein little babes and 
children could receive loving care and attention and be 
taught the rudiments of all knowledge. 

'Tell my loved ones at home that I am not unsexed. 
Tell my wife that 1 am still her husband — my (laughters 



LETTERS FKOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 67 

that I am still their father, and my protecting and loving- 
arms are often about them; that I really, at present, make 
my home with them and when my darling wife joins me 
here we will make our home together as formerly and 
nothing shall part us, no, not even death, for death has 
lost its sting for me and the grave has not vanquished me 
nor the fire consumed me. 

How strange, how passing strange it all is, and yet how 
natural, how simple, how beautiful. Nature's methods 
are all simple. Just get hold of the right end of the 
thread, and the skein is easily wound. The great mistake 
that I made was in supposing the shell or covering was 
the man. Even the shell of a chicken ought to have 
taught me better. The shell was there all right, but the 
chick had found legs and wings, had escaped and was now 
trying to use both. Yes, I am beginning to take up my 
work again; plenty of error to fight against, even among 
Spiritualists. I will hammer away at the errors and let 
my friend here, Herr Franz, build away at the temple of 
truth. I am content to clear away the rubbish. Thor 
with his hammer is needed. 

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. 



Yes, the great Thor with his hammer is needed, for 
without him truth can have no firm foundation. F. P. 



(58 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTEEN. 



If those who read these letters will take the trouble to 
purchase and read the book entitled "Mary Ann Carew," 
written by the spirit of a lady who was/ many years ago, 
my first wife on earth, it will show them how children arc 
educated and cared for here in the spirit world. This 
book is true in all its details, and as interesting and beau- 
tiful as truth ever should be, and it can be had at the office 
of The Progressive Thinker. Those who read this grand 
paper, rightly named The Progressive Thinker, will re- 
member that the spirit, Kate Field, told Miss Lilian Whit- 
ing, through the medium, Mrs. Piper, that she at one 
time became weary while holding a conversation with 
Miss Whiting, and to refresh herself she walked in a gar- 
den. I am more than glad that spirit, Kate Field, in- 
formed Miss Lilian Whiting of that fact, for it is a great 
truth and worthy of note. I have met Miss Field in this 
life, for I greatly desired to become acquainted with her, 
and I herein wish to thank that noble lady, Miss Lilian 
Whiting, for the courage she manifested in giving that 
particular truth to the world. 

Miss Whiting, although a spirit, I am greatly indebted 
to you, personally. Years ago when my son Carlyle pub- 
lished my first book, entitled "The Discovered Country/' 
being obliged, at that time, to publish it under an as- 
sumed name — Ernst von Himmel — in other words, an 
earnest of heaven, you reviewed that book, and, contrary 
to all that one might expect, at that time, your review was 
candid, fair and truthful. You spoke well and favorably 
of the book, thereby risking your own reputation as a 
critic, but your conviction of its truth gave yon courage, 
and I shall now whisper it in your ear, I, Franz Petersilea, 
then a new-born spirit, stood near you. tremblingly, try- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 69 

ing to direct and influence your mind in the way I wished 
it to go. Miss Whiting, I thank you! My dear wife, 
Helena, also sends you greeting and thanks. This kindly 
act of yours has been the means of interesting Miss Field 
to make our acquaintance, and she has paid us a number 
of visits. She is very eager that the earthly world should 
understand the heavenly. She said to you: "I was weary 
and walked in the garden," and she being now by my side, 
says: 

"0, my dear Lilian, do you realize the full meaning of 
my words, 'I walked in the garden V " 

As Miss Field is not yet able to control my medium, she 
says: "0, Mr. Petersilea, will you explain in this message 
all that a spiritual garden signifies?" and I reply, "Madam, 
I am only too happy to be able to do so." A garden 
means a cultivated and beautiful piece of ground wherein 
many flowers are blooming and trees and shrubbery 
abound. Miss Field here says, "Of course I did not refer 
to a vegetable or kitchen garden, but, as you have said, a 
lovely garden of flowers, shrubbery and trees. 0, Lilian, 
it is all true. I walked in a garden wherein were flowers, 
trees and ornamental shrubs; morever, dear Lilian, there 
was also a beautiful fountain of sparkling water; birds of 
gay plumage were flying hither and thither and a little 
gazelle stood near by looking at me with its great, soft, 
dewy eyes. A little dog also leaped before me in the path. 
Lilian! Lilian! It is all true, dear." 

Miss Field seems to have been able to put in a few 
words, after all. She says there were also birds and ani- 
mals there. I believe that through one or two witnesses 
a thing may be established. She walked in a garden 
wherein there were flowers, trees, shrubs, water, birds and 
animals. She walked, consequently she had feet and they 
walked on the ground of a garden. She had eyes to see, 
and there were objects there to be seen. She had ears to 
hear, for she tells me that the birds sang sweetly, that the 
gazelle stamped with one of its little fore hoofs. Now the 
garden was a spiritual garden, for Miss Field is a spirit. 
She might also walk in an earthly garden, but she as- 
sures me that she refers — and did refer — to a spiritual 
garden; for, as I was not there at the time, the thought 
crossed my mind that she might have meant an earthly 
garden; but she emphatically says, "No, Lilian. I meant 
a spiritual garden. An earthly garden now seems coarse 



70 LETTEES FROM THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

and ugly to my sight, and would not be restful to me as a 
spirit/' 

There, Miss Field has succeeded in putting her rosy 
tipped fingers in mv mess once more, at the same time she 
kisses that rosy tipped finger and with a graceful motion 
wafts the kiss to Miss Lilian. 

Well, well; where was I? These young ladies are quite 
distracting, after all. Let me see — birds, flowers, ani- 
mals, trees, water, shrubs and so forth, and she distinctly 
says they are all spiritual and belong to the spirit world. 
Thank you, Miss Field, and the earthly world will thank 
you, too, sooner or later. 

Now, my dear young lady, will you be kind enough to 
say if these were the spirits of animals that once lived on 
earth? 

"Certainly, Mr. Petersilea; for, as you have already told 
the people of earth, there is no propagation in the celestial 
life. All things have their root on the material earths, 
consequently, my Lilian, these were the spirits of animals 
that once lived on earth, and the roses were the spirits of 
roses that once grew on earth, so of the other flowers, trees 
and shrubs." 

And the water, Miss Kate? Don't forget the water. 

"0, yes, Lilian. The water was real water, subtle and 
refined, and sparkled like dew-drops on the petals of a 
flower. 

"Now, dear Lilian, if we have gardens, of course we 
have houses and homes, and this beautiful garden was at- 
tached to a house more beautiful still, and I mean, some- 
time to tell you all about it, and the pretty things there 
are within it, and whom it belongs to; but, I cannot con- 
trol this medium well enough yet. You must thank Mr. 
Petersilea for allowing me to control at all, for he is the 
guide here at the present time. Lilian, Mr. Petersilea feels 
badly that women do not write more for the Spiritualistic 
press, and so do I. You are a good girl that you have 
turned your face in the right direction, and I will help 
you, Lilian, all that I can." 

Dear readers, whoever you may be, we would like to 
make you, and all, thoroughly understand just how it is 
here in this world, and we cannot think of a better com- 
parison than the art of weaving cloth. There is a kind of 
woven cloth almost as coarse as rope yarn can make. Now 
there is woven material on earth all the way up from this 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. U 

coarsest to that as fine as a spider's web, in fact, so fine 
that it requires passably good eyesight to see it at all and 
yet it is real, tangible stuff, woven from threads of exquis- 
ite fineness; even wire is made into screen of such fineness 
that one looking through them quite forgets they are 
there, yet a mosquito or a fly finds them quite tangible, 
and so does a man when he inadvertently tries to run his 
head through them. Now the spiritual world may be 
compared to this very fine material. It is real and tan- 
gible but exquisitely fine. A lady looks through a very 
fine veil and forgets that she wears it, but the veil is as 
real as the lady. The quintessence of fineness is more 
beautiful than coarseness, and our spiritual world is more 
beautiful than the earthly world, for it is composed of the 
quintessence of all that belongs to earth. 

Now I would like to tell you how all these things get 
here. They are brought here, mostly, on the wings of 
heat. 

"How is that?" you ask; and I ask, "How does water 
rise from the earth into the atmosphere, billions upon bill- 
ions of tons of it?" Why, there are oceans of water float- 
ing in the atmosphere at all times, enough to drown out 
every living thing — enough to destroy your cities and 
towns. If it were precipitated at once there would be an- 
other deluge equal to the reputed one in the days of Noah; 
and all this water is carried up from the earth by heat; 
every schoolboy understands this very well. 

Water is not the only thing that heat carries upward, or 
outward, away from this earth; it is carrying everything 
that belongs to the earth in the same way. On a bright 
sunny day, especially if it is very hot, your flowers, many 
of them, wither and die. Why? Because heat is bearing 
them away to the spiritual realm. Much of the water 
that is carried up returns to earth, but not all; a portion 
becomes too rare and never returns and this forms the 
rare and expanded waters of the spiritual spheres. All 
this water rises and no one is conscious of its going — no. 
one can see it as it ascends — for the greater part of it is 
carried up on the brightest and sunniest days; no more 
can one see the essence or spirit of all that appears to die 
on earth, as it is carried by heat outward or upward into 
the spirit realms. The spiritual earth or ground is the 
aggregation of chemical vapors that arise from material 
earths and through the great law of chemical affinity co- 



; 2 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

alesce into shining and ethereal spirit lands or spiritual 
ground. Nothing here grows from seeds. Seeds do not 
germinate anywhere but on the material earths and earths 
nourish the spiritual upon their bosoms. 



LETTER NUMBER FOURTEEN. 



We often hear it said on earth, "If Spiritualism is true 
and spirits can return, why do not the great and wise, who 
have lived and died, return and give something worthy of 
themselves? Why does not Shakspeare return and give 
us some of his lofty plays and sublime poetry? Why does 
not Ingersoll return and give us something worthy of his 
greatness?" Why, my friends, the doughty colonel is 
standing here by my side at this moment, and he says: 

"Now, I can't tell such inquirers why Shakspeare does 
not comply with their wishes. He may be able to say for 
himself; but I can tell them something about myself. 

"If I, as a spirit, say as I was wont to do when in the 
body of flesh and blood, that I did not consider I had 
proof of immortality — that I did not know anything 
about a future life — that there was neither God, Devil, 
nor hell, would the before-mentioned questioners think I 
had given something worthy of myself? If so, I should 
consider that I had not. It is quite humiliating to a man 
to find, after nearly half a century of writing, lecturing 
and talking, that he has been entirely mistaken from the 
very outset — that all his high-flown words have fallen 
about his soul like autumn leaves, leaving him like a tree 
stripped and bare of its foliage. This is somewhat the 
way I feel at present however, consequently, I cannot talk 
to the world as once I did. My beautiful green leaves lie 
about me withered and dead. They were very fair while 
they lasted — they gave a grateful shade and pleasing cool- 
ness to those who rested beneath their shadow, and I fool- 
ishly mistook the perishable leaves for the tree which they 
so cunningly concealed, and many others considered that 
to rest in their shade was all there was worth living for. 



LETTEES FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 73 

"I stand here now, strong and upright to be sure, but 
stark and bare, for my leaves have entirely dropped away 
from me. My friend, Herr Franz, says, 'Robert, do not 
despair. You will have a new growth, presently. Your 
old leaves, or ideas, are now obsolete, dead, for they were 
not eternal verities or truths, simply perishable orna- 
ments; but you will presently put forth a larger and 
stronger growth.' 

"God grant it, is the prayer of your humble servant. 

"If I were to say to the person or persons above men- 
tioned who questioned thus: I live, I am not dead, I am 
immortal, I am a spirit, I do not know all I thought I did 
— would they consider those great truths, or the state- 
ment of them, worthy of Robert G. Ingersoll? Certainly 
not. Why, they would say, 'That is not at all like the 
great agnostic/ Nevertheless, it is like what I am now. 
Why don't I fight the Devil and error as I formerly did? 
Well, I have been stripped of so many errors myself that I 
feel a little shaky — can hardly tell yet what may be truth 
and what error." 

"Why don't I now valiantly fight against Christianity — 
the church and its dogmas? 

"I can't fight against the beautiful Christ, for I have 
already met and conversed with him, and true Christianity 
is divine and of divine origin. Why don't I fight false 
dogmas? I am waiting to discover what is true and what 
false. 

"I now feel something as a man does when he looks 
back to his youth, to the days when he thought he knew 
all there was to know, when he thought he knew as much 
or more than the wisest man who ever lived. 

"I do not now care, or dare, to rush in where angels 
fear to tread. 'Have you gone back on yourself, Robert?' 
Oh, no, my friend. The old Robert went back on me, or 
rather, he left me to take care of myself. The foolish 
fellow dropped me or I dropped him, I can hardly say 
which — however, we fell apart — that is to say we quar- 
reled and parted company, and I am sure I never desire to 
see him again, and as I hear he has been destroyed by 
the purifying flames since that time, I could not if I 
wished to." 

"Well, can't you tell us something about yourself now?" 

"And I answer emphatically, yes, I can! But you 



74 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WOEL1 ). 

might not consider that I was doing myself justice — not 
giving anything worthy of the 'great agnostic' 

"I, 'the great agnostic/ am dead, I tell you, and burned 
up, and I, plain, simple Robert, stand here with scarcely a 
leaf to cover me. I am trying to do myself justice by 
telling the truth, as you see. Do you want me to go on 
with a lot of flowery falsehoods?" 

"Well, Robert, where are you?" 

"Neither in heaven nor in hell, nor yet in purgatory. 
Just now, my good friend, Herr Franz, and myself, are 
standing quietly here by the side of a sensitive — one on 
either side of the before-mentioned sensitive — and I am 
learning how to write, this good Herr Franz teaching and 
aiding me. 'Not worthy of me/ do you say? Herein we 
differ. The simple truth is worthy of any man, woman 
or child. 

"Now, I learned to write when a little boy at school, 
and was not as smart at it as I might have been if I 
remember rightly. Now I am learning to write for the 
second time. I may not be very smart at it, but don't 
expect too much from a new beginner. I learned to 
write with the aid of a material hand and wrote on 
material paper, when at school as a boy, and I did it under 
the instruction of a competent teacher and I find it 
necessary to have a teacher now just as I did then, other- 
wise I could not do this at all. I am now laboriously try- 
ing to write, sans hand, sans paper, and without pen and 
ink — laboriously trying to learn how to write on an 
entirely different kind of parchment — the quivering brain 
of a person still in the flesh — a sensitive. In order to do 
this I must first get my own thoughts clear, concise and 
positive — the more positive I am the better the reflection, 
for then my thought, becoming tangible, is reflected, or 
imaged, on my sensitive plate — the spiritual brain of my 
sensitive or material medium. Remember, I am new at 
the business, so don't expect too much, but say, as my 
earthly teacher did — 'Robert, you are doing very well; 
persevere/ My present teacher smilingly says to me 
pretty nearly the same, so let not those who do not under- 
stand this, cavil, sneer and say: 'Why, this clumsy effort 
is not worthy the great agnostic.' Just simply say, as I 
used to about this, I don't know. I don't know, and then 
go at once and try to' find out. Find out. Try to find 
out, I say. Try to find out! You will never hear Robert 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 75 

G. Ingersoll say again, I don't know, I don't know, 
without adding, but I will go and find out; so, my good 
friends, go you and do likewise. Find out. Find out. 
Discover. You may have to sail away from your former 
moorings, or ideas, but there's land ahead, be sure of that. 
You will soon discover a new country — a new continent 
not yet known to the greater part of the old world; 
struggle on against all opposition; behold! the evidence is 
directly before you." 

"0, Robert ! you don't mean to tell us there is a God, a 
Christ who is the Son of God, a hell, a Devil, atoning 
blood, immaculate conception, fire and furnace, and all 
the rest of it — the wretched dogmas you used to fight so 
valiantly? Why, you are a regular warrior. You don't 
mean to say that you have succumbed to all this at last ?" 

"My friends, when you ask me if there is a hell, I 
answer, no. When you ask me if there are many hells, I 
answer, yes; as many as there are broken laws and erro- 
neous opinions, and some of these hells are about as hot 
as they can be. There is not an error here, or on the 
earth, but is being consumed as rapidly as possible in the 
burning hells which they create for themselves; otherwise, 
they would endure forever. I can't fight the churches 
very much more on the hell question, for liars, deceivers, 
robbers, murderers, drunkards, libertines are all — all in 
the hottest kind of hells, and every vice and error, those 
who yield to, or cherish them, are in hells to correspond. 
The only point of difference now is, that the spirit of man 
has the power of ascending out of its hell, whenever it is 
disposed to cast off its errors and walk hand in hand with 
good, or God, which is one and the same thing." 
"Then you admit that there is no God?" 

"No, I don't admit anything of the kind. No one can 
cast God out and be either good or happy." 

"0, Robert, Robert! You don't mean to tell us there 
is a personal God?" 

"Yes, I do; for God is within every person who ever 
lives or ever will live, and a person is a personality, is he 
not? Consequently, there is a personal God and each 
person possesses him, or her, or it, and God possesses the 
person and they are one and the same." 

"0, Robert, and how about the Devil, the master of 
hell?" 

"I tell you, my friends, there is a great big Devil with 



rC LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

hoofs and horns and a forked tail and all that, and he is 
the master of hell as sure as you live, and he is a person, 
too, tempting every person who lives or ever will live, and 
his ways are dark, and he goeth about like a roaring lion 
seeking whom he may devour — he is personal for every 
person can make a devil of himself if he does not take 
heed to his steps and listen to the voice of good or God. 

"Now, I hope I have proved that there is a God, a Devil 
and a hell, and they are all personal, or within a person. 

"I hear that some of the orthodox ministers say that I 
am in hell. Well, now, brothers, I don't deny it, and I 
hope my hell will burn so fiercely and quick that every 
error will be burned up in the shortest possible time. 
Don't want to stay in it, my brothers, and I am going to 
find the way to get out as sure as we live. Give us your 
hand, my brother, and if you are in a more heavenly 
place, be generous enough to help me up there by your 
side. Don't make a Devil of yourself and hold the pitch- 
fork with which to pitch me in again. Let God, or good 
brotherly love reign instead. But, to return to the Devil. 
We will commence at his feet. His hoofs are harder than 
adamant and he treads the poor helpless people into the 
mire and dirt with them while he filches and robs them to 
his heart's content. But I forgot to tell you, the Devil's 
hoofs are made of gold. He calls them his capital — stock 
in trade — and a thousand other names, simply to deceive 
himself. He, nor his colleagues, does not like to think 
that they are, after all, but the cloven hoofs belonging to 
the Devil. Each and every man who tramples upon and 
robs his brother, whatever method he may employ, is a 
personal Devil, and his golden hoofs are hard and 
relentless. 

"Now, the Devil has horns as well as hoofs and, of 
course, his horns are for the purpose of fighting, goring 
and killing; but, in order to deceive himself and others, 
he calls them gatling guns, smokeless powder, torpedo- 
boats, bombarding shells, and other names too numerous 
to mention. The Devil's head is exceedingly large and 
strong, else he would not be able to sport such wonderful 
horns wherewith to gore men to death — let out their 
entrails, crush and mangle them, break their bones, leave 
their wives widows, and their children fatherless, crying 
for bread. He is a vicious, cruel old Devil, older thai) 
mankind, for ho originally belonged to beasts; but in 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 77 

those days he was more innocent than at present; then, 
he only used his horns in self-defense; but now he is a 
raging, rampant Devil, seeking whom he may devour; he 
even strides to remote regions and pushes with his horns 
and tramples with his hoofs, until he leaves thousands of 
innocent people in bloody, burned and mangled heaps; 
slain to satisfy his thirst for blood and his ambition to 
conquer and hold for gain; and every man who helps to 
encourage and sustain this bloody beast, either by his 
influence, pen, voice or vote, is the personal Devil before 
mentioned, and he is the master and maker of a burning 
and most frightful hell that will sooner or later swallow 
him within its depths. You see the hell that I tell you 
of is worse and hotter even than Moody's, hotter even than 
the one to which my reverend brothers consigned me. 
But, thanks to God — or the good within me — I have, thus 
far, been able to escape that hell. Brothers, be very 
careful that you do not get into it; but, in case you are so 
unfortunate, I shall certainly lend you a helping hand, if 
possible, and aid in lifting you out. 

"The one of old said truly of this great beast, the Devil, 
that fire and smoke issued from his nostrils — but I must 
not forget the Devil's forked tail. Yes; he has a tail, and 
it is forked. His long tail is simply a serpent with a 
forked tongue, and he is the very old serpent himself, 
believe me, and his special occupation is to deceive and 
beguile women. He has a smooth tongue — he makes fair 
promises — he is a great help to the Devil, aiding him to 
encompass the downfall of innocent young girls — for hell 
and the Devil batten on these. Now, every man who has 
encompassed the downfall of an innocent girl or woman 
is the Devil personally, and the smoke of his torment will 
ascend up — if not forever — for a goodly stretch of time, 
be sure of that. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER FIFTEEN. 



"Well, what about the immaculate conception? as you 
seem to believe in Christ and tell us that you have already 
met him." 

"I have this to tell you, my friends, that there have 
been thousands and thousands of immaculate conceptions, 
consequently I am constrained to think that Jesus might 
have been one who was thus begotten. Any child that is 
begotten by parents who love each other with pure holy 
love, is immaculately conceived and will, probably, live to 
be a bright and shining light in the world. I did not ask 
the man of Nazareth who his parents were, when I met 
him. I thought, as he does, that it mattered very little 
who they might have been. Whoever they were, they 
should have been happy to have brought forth such a son. 
Herr Franz has already told you of Jesus, and I can say 
no more or different from that which he has already said 
on the subject — but, of the atonement, a few words, I 
think, may not be amiss. My former ideas of the atone- 
ment have not changed in the least. No one can wash a 
sinner clean but himself. Never cherish a doubt but that 
he will be obliged to do his own washing. Jesus was a 
man like other men — a reformer like many other reform- 
ers — and he was treated as hundreds of other reformers 
have been — he is a bright and shining angel now, as I can 
bear witness. When I found, shortly after coming here, 
that Jesus and his apostles really lived, I was eager to 
meet them, and I have met Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke 
and John; but really these angels can teach me no more 
that a thousand others who are equally bright and 
shining. 

"I am going to do a little more fighting for my native 
globe — yet I used to say my native land — now I say my 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 79 

native globe, my native orb, my native planet, and so 
forth. Yon see, my friends, I have taken a step onward 
and I am very eager to fight that Devil I was speaking of 
in my last letter. Luther threw the Bible, together with 
his inkstand, at his supposed majesty, but it did not hurt 
him a bit, as I can discover. He seems as rampant now 
as ever, charging right and left on friend and foe alike; 
but he is a wise old serpent withal. He is very winning 
and polite to the millionaires, whom he hopes to soon 
make billionaires. Yes; he has promised ten or more 
that they shall shortly become billionaires. I could, for 
instance, mention the Standard Oil Company, and 
another large concern that is gobbling up all the wheat, 
and another syndicate that is buying up all the gold mines 
of America, both North and South, another that intends 
to own all the coal producing land of America. The old 
serpent is very gracious to the persons forming these 
companies. 

" 'Go right on/ he says to them encouragingly. 'You 
will soon be billionaires instead of millionaires. The 
millionaires will presently be counted as small fry, 
scarcely worth thinking about. Let me give you a little 
advice, my lovely Standard Oil Company, and my big 
Coal Syndicate. As soon as the real hard, cold winter 
comes on, push your prices up — up! I say. Those who 
have money will still continue to buy. Never mind about 
the poor laboring man, the widows, the orphans and such; 
you are not to blame because they have not the money 
wherewith to buy, that is their own fault. Look at my 
golden hoofs, sirs. I can soon make short work of them. 
Trample them down, sirs, and kick them after they are 
down. Those poor, half frozen, shivering women and 
children are of very little account. You must be a 
billionaire even if ten thousand of these perish with cold. 
And, my lovely Standard Oil Company, what matters it 
to you if these poor, lone seamstresses, toiling in their 
garrets, cannot afford to buy oil that they may see to 
stitch. Why, sirs, there are a million or more of these. 
I will go and push them out into the street. I have 
strong and goodly horns, sirs; they can't well withstand 
them. Never think about them, for you must be billion- 
aires. Let them sell themselves, sirs, for the small 
pittance that they might have earned if they could have 
afforded to buy oil. • And you, my fat and lordly Wheat 



80 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Trust. When other foods are scarce, now is your time. 
It may be that you will become of even larger proportions 
than a billionaire. Wouldn't that be grand? That would 
beat all other records! What does it matter to us, good 
sirs, whether the poor eat wheat at all. If they get a few 
pennies, occasionally, let them buy bread of the profes- 
sional baker. The baker says that wheat is so high he 
cannot afford to make bread that is suitable for food, so 
he puts in a very little wheat flour, a good deal of potato 
starch and a larger quantity of chalk, then he tips in a 
quart or so of cheap ammonia and presently he turns out 
bread that will make your eyes stand out with admira- 
tion — great big loaves only five and ten cents each. Cheap 
enough, my good sirs. Why the starving poor ought to 
be content with such beauties. Here, take that little, 
shivering, half-clothed child's five cents and give her one 
of those glorious, shining loaves of bread, enough to feed 
a whole family. The little starving wretch grasps it 
hungrily and runs home with it. Now watch that gaunt 
mother as she cuts the bread. She tries to run the knife 
through it, and as she does so it collapses like a slit 
balloon, and the poor mother has nothing in her hand 
but an ounce or so of stuff, sirs — but an ounce or so of 
poison stuff — slow poison. Do you say there is no law 
touching this particular kind of slow poison? So the 
wretched mother doles it out to her little ones in the place 
of food that she has no money to buy. 

" 'What is that to you? You did not put the ammonia 
and chalk into it — not you. Go right on, sir, for you will 
soon be a billionaire. 

" 'Now, my lovely Standard Oil Company, you want to 
be considered a good and charitable sort of chap — you are 
a Christian, you know, and you want to endow a church 
or something of that kind. You want to be generous. 
Now, give a hundred thousand or so — show them what 
you are made of — and to-morrow levy five or ten cents on 
every five gallons of oil; before the week is out your 
money will be more than returned to you — fact is, you 
will be richer by perhaps, ten thousand dollars, than you 
were before you gave that splendid gift to the church, 
that is supposed to be following in the footsteps of the 
meek and lowly man of Nazareth, who commanded, sell 
all that thou hast and give to the poor. Give to him that 
asketh of thee and turn not thou away. Visit the widow 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 81 

and the fatherless, the sick and in prison, also heal the 
sick; make the blind to see, the lame to walk and the deaf 
to hear. Listen not to the sweet Christ, but to me — the 
creature with horns and hoofs and forked tail — for every 
cent more you have charged for that oil has been 
wrenched from the poor and needy, making them poorer 
and more needy still — from the miserable seamstresses in 
their cheerless garrets — from the poor, weary, worn 
mother, who washes all day to earn a few pence to keep 
the children from starving, and spends the greater part of 
the night to mend up their old rags. But what is all this 
to you, sir? You must be a billionaire — moreover, men 
must think that by becoming such you are a great benefit 
to the world in general; for thereby you are able to endow 
a church. It will enable them to build a great, splendid 
edifice, all glittering in gold and purple and costly stuffs; 
it will enable them to pay the humble preacher, who fol- 
lows in the footsteps of the gentle Nazarene, ten or twelve 
thousand dollars a year, possibly it might be made to 
stretch to even fifteen or twenty thousand. Don't think 
for a moment, that one of those poor, laboring men, or 
his wife, could enter the door of that elegant building — 
and those poor children, shivering and ragged, would be 
immediately driven away if they were to venture even to 
peep in. 

" 'Yes, sirs! I consider that the elegant churches of 
the land belong to me. I have absolutely ousted that 
Nazarene and taken possession. Smart, am I? Shrewd 
and smart? Well, yes; I flatter myself that I am, 
somewhat. 

" 'But my golden hoofs and sharp, effective horns aid 
me much, and my forked tail is very beguiling. I am 
able, sometimes, to make men think that black is white, 
and white black — and, if you will believe me, some of 
those people, belonging to those grand churches, really 
think they are following in the footsteps of the meek and 
lowly Jesus. They call me a wily old fellow, forgetting 
all the while that they are the very ones beguiled. 

" 'Now, my grasping, bloated, pompous millionaire — or 
billionaire, whichever it may be — you are liable at any 
moment to change worlds, as I did. One moment you 
may be a millionaire, the next a blasted, withered tree, 
without a leaf on your dried branches, and you will be 
compelled by the eternal law of justice to make restitution 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

for every penny yon have wrenched from the poor and 
needy, and every tear and every sigh that yon have wrung 
from others, a corresponding tear and sigh will be wrung 
from your own soul. 

L • I . ; od i s j i ist . Remember that. 

k 'I cannot say, now, there is no God; for the great 
eternal laws of nature constitute that which is called God, 
and strict justice is one of these great eternal laws. So be 
careful what you do — take heed to your steps one and 
all — 'for I am a just God, so saith the Lord, and will 
recompense every man according to his works/ The 
Lord is the Law, and God the Soul of man. 

"ROBERT G. INGERSOLL." 

There, I think Mr. Ingersoll has put in quite a large 
plum this time, and we hope it will be the means of doing- 
much good. Friends, the time is near at hand when you 
will expect letters from your friends here as much as you 
expect them now when they are absent from you on earth. 
We are rapidly forming a regular mail service, here in the 
celestial world, and it will not be long before all who wish 
can avail themselves of it. When those of earth get wire- 
less telegraphy in proper working order, they will each 
and all begin to comprehend the working of our tele- 
graphic system. We send our thoughts out to other spir- 
itual beings who are removed from us thousands of miles. 
We thus ask them questions and soon get their replies. 
We often want information on various subjects that only 
those who are far above can give us, and it takes but a few 
moments to get all the information we desire. I thus 
questioned Jesus in one of my former messages to you. 
Now any person on earth, no matter who he may be. can 
do the same. Let some, or all of those who read this, t rv 
it. For instance, one wants to ask a very important ques- 
tion of, say, perhaps, Jesus. That one may sit down 
quietly in the silence, cast all former ideas and prejudices 
from his mind, allow it, as nearly as possible, to become a 
blank for the moment or like an unwritten sheet of paper; 
now he forms the question slowly and distinctly in his 
mind; then he fixes his mind intently on the spirit — Jesus 
of Nazareth — he must cast out all prejudices of Savior 
and atoning blood, in fact everything that lie lias ever 
heard about Jesus. Now when he has called earnestly 
upon Jesus, then let him propel his question with all the 
force of his will and with great positiveness and quietly 






LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 83 

await the replay which will presently come flowing into his 
mind. Now he must be very careful that he does not 
allow any preconceived ideas of his own to become active. 
Let him try to ask questions a number of times in this 
way and he will be astonished at the result. He can also 
ask questions of any spirit in this way and he will get 
answers, and truthful ones if he is good and truthful 
himself. "To the pure all things are pure." 



LETTER NUMBER SIXTEEN. 



"To the pure all things are pure." This saying has 
sometimes been misunderstood. It does not mean that 
impurity is pure to the pure, but that the pure receive 
only that which is pure, for if an impure answer should 
flow into the mind, that mind itself is impure and receives 
its own, and the answer of the pure spirit is not taken in 
and assimilated. When you thus question (see our former 
letter), receive no answer but the highest and purest that 
your mind is capable of holding, and all will be well. Do 
not call on any spirit w r ho is beneath yourself in love and 
wisdom — always on those above you. A father or mother 
in spirit life will not reply falsely to a child left on earth. 
That father or mother desires only the welfare of the 
child and it is a great incentive to most fathers and 
mothers, who have children on earth, to progress in 
wisdom as rapidly as possible that they may be able to give 
it to loved ones there. 

Your desire for knowledge, my dear Carlyle, has been a 
powerful incentive to me. how earnestly I have de- 
sired wisdom that I might be able to impart it to your 
hungry soul, and yet your soul cries up to me, "Give — 
give !" spurring me forever onw T ard. When I was on earth, 
or more properly speaking within the material, I endeav- 
ored to conquer all obstacles that I might be able to give, 
or provide for my wife and children. It was the incentive 
that spurred me onward, and it is precisely the same now. 
Then I desired to feed vour bodv and mind — now I desire 



84: LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

to feed your spirit and soul, and I hope I have not been 
forgetful or negligent. 

If these letters are to be published to the world, as I 
find they are, we want to write some eternal truths that 
will be self-evident — that will need no other proof than 
simply to state facts. 

Many on earth think that families will be reunited here 
and then go on in the same relation as before, perhaps to 
all eternity; but this is not so, neither does any family 
ever sustain the same relationship that it sustained while 
on earth; and now, in order to make myself clear, I will 
explain exactly how it is. 

For instance, we will say a family on earth has two or 
three small children translated to the celestial world, the 
father and mother and the remaining children live on 
earth for a great many years thereafter, the children thus 
remaining grow to manhood and womanhood, marry, and 
have families of their own, the father and mother remain, 
perhaps, fifty or more years; we will say that perhaps the 
children they lost have been in the celestial world fifty 
years. Now these children have not been standing still; 
no, not for a moment — no more than those on earth. If 
those on earth have grown to manhood and womanhood 
and married, can anyone think that those in the celestial 
world have not done the same. It must be a self-evident 
truth that such is the case. These celestial children have 
also grown to manhood and womanhood, they have been 
united to their true counterparts, and the union consti- 
tutes an angel or completed whole, male and female as 
one. They do not bear children, as on earth, but the 
union of the positive and negative forces, male and female 
generates thought, and thoughts are things; that is, an 
angel's thoughts become objective, or objects — spiritual 
entities — not human spiritual or angelic living entities 
endowed with life and motion but thought entities. I do 
not know that I can make this clear to all in any better 
way than to again give something of my own experience, 
for the eternal laws that apply to me and mine, apply 
to all. 

When on earth, in my young manhood, I married; my 
wife bore me a number of children. Previous to her 
death, or departure to the celestial life, two or three of 
those children died or departed to the celestial world. T 
was left on earth with two children to care for. In a 



LETTEES FKOM THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 85 

couple of years or so I married another lady. By my 
second wife I also had a family. I remained on earth, 
after that, nearly forty years, and then preceded my 
second wife to the celestial world. Now no one can 
reasonably suppose that the wife and children that I lost 
in my early manhood had been standing still all that time 
waiting for me, or that it would be reasonable to think 
that I should be again united to my first wife. Those in 
the celestial world had gone onward far more rapidly than 
if they had remained on earth. The truth of this must 
be evident to all. 

"Well," you ask, "how did you find It?" 

This is how I found it. My first wife had for many, 
many years been united to her own true counterpart and 
consequently had become an exceedingly bright and 
shining angel, so far beyond me that I really can never 
overtake her. We could never, under any circumstances, 
be united again. I do not mean that I do not, or may not 
reach the various altitudes of wisdom which she has 
attained, but, of course, I am always far, far behind her; 
neither do I mean to say that I have not met her. I have 
met her many times and she, or they, rather, have often 
been my teachers. All the details concerning this are 
given in my book, "The Discovered Country," and the 
details of her experience are given in the book, "Mary 
Ann Carew. Wife, Mother, Spirit, Angel." 

Now, how was it with the children that I had lost — 
those who had been in the celestial world for, perhaps, 
forty years? No one can suppose that they remained 
children, lived with their mother, and waited for me. 
No, no; such was not the case. Those children had met 
and remained with their mother as long as was for the 
good of both mother and children, but those children 
grew rapidly into young men and maidens, were united, 
each to his or her own counterpart, and also became 
bright and shining angels. 

Now all angels make homes for themselves, and all set 
themselves to the performance of some grand work. I 
met those children, to be sure. I could have remained 
within the home of either one of them if I had been so 
disposed; but, by doing so, I should not have been fulfill- 
ing or rounding out myself or my own destiny; quite the 
contrary. I should have become rather a useless non- 
entity, and would not myself have become an angel or 



86 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

completed being. I also found my complement, or other 
self, and was united to her and at this present moment we 
are among the happiest and busiest of angels. No one, 
we think, can fail to see that what I have stated must be 
the case, else the millions of little children who come here 
would not have the advantages of those left on earth, and 
unless we had schools and educational halls, children 
could never attain wisdom. 

I have written these letters thus far, in the first person 
singular; but we have merely done this that those on earth 
might better comprehend them. My beloved other self, 
whose name is Helena, has had precisely as much to do 
with them as I have. We are one. When we call our- 
selves Franz Petersilea, it does not mean simply the male 
personality of Herr Franz, but comprises both the male 
and female personalities of Helena and Franz as one. 
This is typified on earth, "and they twain shall be one 
flesh/' also, they twain shall be one spirit or one angel. 
Consequently, my beloved Helena also gives you greeting. 

There are thousands upon thousands who are united, 
on earth, to the real other self. Those so united will go 
on as one in the celestial world, but those so united do not 
remain apart very long; a natural law exists that when one 
departs from earth the other soon follows; for those who 
belong together cannot be long separated; the half which 
has departed draws the remaining half to itself; so that 
earthly husbands and wives who have been for long years 
separated by so-called death, are not re-united; and nearly 
all the widows and widowers left on earth soon — as I 
myself did — marry again. Well, this is as it should be, 
but those who thus marry were not in the first instance 
united to the eternal counterpart of themselves; if such 
had been the case they would not marry again; the very 
thought would be horrible to them. We do not mean to 
say that the husban,d or wife thus left may not have had 
a strong regard — or one may call it love if one prefers — 
but the fact that they soon after united themselves to 
others is evidence in itself that they had not found the 
true one. 

Now among other questions which I asked the man of 
Nazareth was the one his disciples asked him long ago: 
"If a -woman has had a number of husbands on earth. 
whose wife shall she be in heaven?" Jesus said to the 
disciples, "In heaven they neither marry nor are given in 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 87 

marriage but are as the angels in heaven." Now, as we 
said, we questioned Jesus as to what he meant by this and 
he replied: "I meant just as you have found it, my dear 
Herr Franz and Helena. You and Helena were not mar- 
ried by a priest as they marry on earth, neither was Helena 
given to you in marriage by father or guardian, but you 
were united by the great natural law pertaining to angel- 
hood, of which the earthly marriage is but the fore- 
shadowing or type." 

When I wrote in "The Discovered Country," my actual 
experience in the celestial world, many on earth sneer- 
ingly said it smacked of free love; but, certainly, those who 
said this must have been looking through the spectacles 
of free love. I said nothing about earthly marriages. I 
simply related my experience as a spiritual being within 
the celestial world, and if being united, eternally, to the 
other half of my own being smacks of free love, then all 
the angels in heaven are free lovers, and God must be a 
free lover for nothing was ever created without the blend- 
ing of the male and female principles in nature — together ' 
they are the creative God — together they are creation 
itself. There can be but one true, conjugal union or love; 
all others, whatsoever, are false and fleeting and sooner or 
later must fall apart, not necessarily until so-called death 
separates them — and so-called death certainly separated 
me from both my wives. 

We advise no husband or wife, on earth, to separate; 
but, quite the contrary. All husbands and wives on earth 
should remain together and be true to each other — the 
husband as true as the wife — if it is possible for them to 
do so. We think the present laws of the United States 
regarding marriage and divorce are just and equitable; 
for, if those who are married live miserably together the 
law provides a remedy; and, this is as it should be, and no 
sane man or woman calls this just law free love. Think 
of a pure, true, gifted and beautiful woman being united 
to a wretch calling himself a man — a man so degraded 
that he is hardly above a beast and in many respects below 
a beast, for no beast of its own free will ever gets drunk — ■ 
think of such a woman being obliged to remain with such 
a creature because she ignorantly made the fatal mistake 
of marrying him — an abusive, murderous, drunken 
wretch, false to his marriage vows in every respect, seek- 
ing any and all avenues wherein he may basely deceive 



88 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and betray his wife, betraying any and all women whom 
he could deceive. Do you say that because I wrote of 
such a lady in my book entitled "Oceanides," that I barely 
escape being a free lover, or that I uphold free love? No, 
no, my friends, but quite to the contrary. 

Some forty years ago, when I lived with you on the 
earth, I was acquainted with a lady who, for quite a num- 
ber of years, lived precisely such a life as I have depicted 
in my book, "Oceanides, or From an Atom to an Angel." 
My son at that time thought he knew better than his 
father, and changed the title to "Oceanides, a Psychical 
Novel." Oceanides is a true record of a lady's life with 
a wretch whom she called husband, but she had no lover. 
Ernst von Himmel simply means earnest of heaven; her 
lover was a heavenly lover, for heaven loved her, and she 
loved heaven, and the angels watched over her, and after 
she had suffered all that human nature could suffer the 
unnatural marriage fell apart, as it should have done from 
the very first, and a legal divorce was granted her. This 
particular case was many, many years ago and has nothing 
to do with the present generation except as the story 
applies to all such cases. 

If you on earth were spirits as we are, and as we do, 
could look into the secret lives of many wretched beings 
on earth, you would all agree with us that the divorce law 
is just and equitable. 

There are cases where husbands are entitled to a 
divorce, and I think, also, the law of your land provides 
for these; but, they are more rare than the opposite, still 
there are such cases. When a husband simply becomes a 
beast of burden to support and carry on his back, not only 
the woman he married, but all her relatives far and near — 
when he labors all day and far into the night lonely and 
disheartened, without love, aid or companionship of any 
kind, and the proceeds of all his toil simply goes to keep 
up a false style of fashionable living, when he is worse 
than a bound slave to his mother-in-law, when he is not 
permitted to express an opinion of any kind at his own 
table if it in the least conflicts with the prejudices of the 
before mentioned mother-in-law, uncles, cousins and 
aunts; when his whole life is made up of annoyances, and 
what should be a home becomes a fashionable hotel which 
he alone must, perforce, support; when his wife becomes 
almost a stranger to him and feels interested in almost 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 89 

everything but her husband, when, as I say, such a man 
really has no wife, no sympathy, no home; when his heart 
is so hungry and his wretchedness so great that he is con- 
stantly contemplating suicide; when his wife, as I have 
said, together with her family and fashionable friends, 
simply look upon him as a beast of burden to carry them 
along, such a man is entitled to a divorce, and when 
driven to the last extremity will usually obtain one. This 
is right and as it should be. Free love enters not into 
such cases. 

Now, there are some devotees to fashion — or fashion- 
able women — who do lead their husbands just such lives, 
until the husband either sinks under it, and dies — or 
enters the celestial life — before he should, or he is driven 
to obtain a divorce. But, as I said before, these cases are 
rare — more rare than the one depicted in "Oceanides." 
To be the wife of a vicious, false and drunken husband, is 
the lot of thousands of women; and to these the divorce 
laws are a boon and are strictly just. Not one jot or tittle 
of free love enters into them; but the true union that 
comes after death is the just recompense for all these 
miserable earthly marriages. 

Now, dear friends, we have explained to you the true 
law that governs marriage, or the union of the sexes. We 
did not make that law, consequently we are not to blame 
that it exists. We simply found this to be the law when 
we arrived here. All we have done is to hand the knowl- 
edge down to earth. So please refrain from calling this 
great natural law free love — as you understand that term; 
for by doing so you insult the angels and the great 
universal and divine law of justice as it exists within the 
celestial world. 



90 LETTERS FROM THE SPI1UT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER SEVENTEEN. 



My dear son, I desire to-day, to touch once more upon 
the subject of evolution. 

Many scientists, at the present time, are running oft' at 
a mad rate on this great subject. Now they all ought to 
be called back. If they do not come back and start right 
they will all eventually fall into the bogs of error. 

Evolution is a great truth, but you must put another 
great truth by the side of it and let the two grand truths 
walk evenly hand in hand, side by side: Evolution and 
Involution. 

Now, don't let us throw away everything that is good in 
the Bible; but let us try to understand the true meaning 
of many great truths in that book. 

At one time when Helena and myself were listening to 
a grand lecture delivered by the sweet Christ Jesus — 
which means the anointed Jesus, or the priest Jesus, or 
the minister and teacher Jesus, or all combined — among 
other great truths which he uttered was this: "And God 
made man in his own image and breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life." 

Helena and myself, together with the whole audience, 
sat spellbound during this grand discourse. I cannol 
make you see with material eyes, or even spiritual eyes, 
the transcendent beauty of this great teacher or the 
grandeur of the place and its surroundings; but, I will try 
to give the truths which he taught, in my own poor words; 
for this is the only way, now, that his teachings can reach 
mankind. 

"God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life." 
By God is meant a great natural law — for all great nai oral 
laws are God, and the old saying really meant nothing 
more than tin's and many of your great scholars and sa- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 91 

vants already know this to be true. A great natural law, 
then, breathed into man the breath of life and he became 
a living soul. From the atmosphere man inhaled the 
germs of life, the germs which were to be the living souls 
of the next generation. Now this is involution and thou- 
sands upon thousands of years ago many philosophers 
understood this well — that all life, whatsoever, came from 
the atmosphere; otherwise, the germs of all things that 
live reside within the atmosphere — not the coarser air, 
but the ethereal atmosphere which interpenetrates all 
space; and man's soul goeth back to God who gave it. 
The great law of involution gave to man his life and at 
the death of the body his soul goeth back to that which 
gave it — that is, his spirit goes back into the ethereal 
atmosphere or the celestial world. 

When science says that life originates within a cell of 
protoplasm, it is right in one way and wrong in another. 
Protoplasm or matter has no life whatever of its own, and 
the life principle does not reside within it, but when that 
cell of protoplasm is exposed to the air it attracts from the 
atmosphere a germ of life — a spiritual germ. Now the 
germ begins to expand, grow, evolute; first involution and 
then evolution. 

The very lowest forms of life are various species of moss 
upon the rocks, and the living, glutinous masses found in 
the sea. Rocks decay slightly, the decayed matter of the 
rock and the moisture of the air or rain, make protoplasm, 
the germ of moss, which resides within the atmosphere, by 
a natural law of attraction, the spirit, or living germ, 
buries itself within the protoplasm, covers itself with it, 
otherwise the germ could never develop into that which 
nature designed it to be — the first or lowest order of life 
upon the earth. Moss is a beautiful form of life and all 
life is beautiful. 

Now, when this moss decays, or dies, the life or spirit of 
it ascends as developed spiritual moss, into the ethereal 
atmosphere or celestial world, to beautify the celestial 
spheres; the matter or protoplasm remains on earth and 
after many accumulations becomes soil fitted for higher 
germs of vegetation, and as fast as the higher germs find 
suitable soil or matter wherein to hide, higher and still 
higher forms of vegetation appear, until through the laws 
of evolution and involution vegetation arrives at that 
point where a tiny flower appears. Now the flower holds 



92 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the attractive force, and it gathers within its tiny cup the 
spiritual germ and holds it fast until seed is formed. 

Now involution and evolution have given us seed, that 
is, by involution a higher state of things has been evolved 
until we arrive at insect and animal life, until a point is 
arrived at when the great laws of involution and evolu- 
tion take on the forms of male and female. Each male 
form now inhales, and holds, the spiritual germs of the 
future generation, and the same principle applies to all 
life within the waters. 

If, as has been shown, all life originates within the 
atmosphere, or ether, surely it all returns to it again de- 
veloped and beautified, for that is the sole object of spirit 
and matter, or ethereal germs and protoplasm. 

Now I will try to prove what I have said to be true: It 
is true, as we here well know, but men of earth want proof. 
Seal any kind of matter or protoplasm away from the air, 
that has never yet attracted the germs of life, and it will 
keep for years, or until a little air finds it's way to it, but 
shortly after the air does find it's way to it, life appears; 
for the germs of life have buried themselves within the 
mass of the matter. 

And now, dear friends, one and all of the many thou- 
sand readers of The Progressive Thinker, I will tell you 
how you may see these germs with the naked eye, which 
I think will be additional proof that what I tell you is 
true. When you are sitting quietly in a room, look 
toward the light of a window — that is look out of the win- 
dow toward the sky, but let your gaze rest steadily upon 
the atmosphere a few yards from the eyes — do not look at 
anything but the air — gaze quietly and steadily for a few 
moments and you will be surprised, for you will thus be- 
hold the germinal sea, consisting of living, germinal 
points of light. These points of light vary in size from 
those about as large as the point of a pin to those of much 
larger size — say, the head of a pin. Now do not make a 
mistake and think I mean motes in a sunbeam; I mean 
nothing of the kind. The points of light which you will 
see, if you strictly follow my directions, are living little 
globes, lighter in color than the atmosphere, of all grades 
and sizes and they are darting hither and thither in all di- 
rections, filled with life and motion, never still for an in- 
stant, little, bright, translucent globes of light; an unend- 
ing sea of germinal life. Now do not mistake and think 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 93 

I mean clairvoyant sight. I do not thus mean, but your 
natural sight — the sight of your material eyes — and the 
only reason you have never observed them is because you 
have not thought of doing so; for, ordinarily, you do not 
notice them at all; and still the air is filled with them, to 
be seen with the naked eye if you but take the trouble. I 
presume that many of you have seen them but have 
thought very little about them. 

Now, when scientists start right, taking the law of evo- 
lution in one hand and the law of involution in the other, 
the road to immortality will be made plain and easy, so 
that even a child may understand. Anyone taking one 
law alone and trying to follow it to its ultimate will make 
woeful mistakes. If you discover one law you must find 
its counterpart or you will end in the aforesaid bog. 
Male and female, positive and negative, involution and 
evolution; every existing law has its counterpart; heaven 
and earth, spirit and matter, and so forth. 

Now these laws are elaborated at great length in the 
four books which my son has been able to publish, "The 
Discovered Country/' "Oceanides," "Mary Ann Carew," 
"Philip Carlislie," and it is worth the while of any scien- 
tist to purchase these books and study them. They can 
be had at the office of The Progressive Thinker. It 
would be impossible in a short newspaper article to prop- 
erly elaborate these great natural laws. 

One great reason why the religions of the world are 
one-sided and erroneous is, that they have originated 
mostly in the brains of men. Now I hope I shall be ex- 
cused if I tell the truth. No man who has not his other 
self, or completement, is fit to give a true religion to the 
world. He can only give a one-sided religion — a male re- 
ligion, as one might call it — and the world will never have 
a perfect religion until it is given to the world through 
those who are united in perfect oneness, the male and the 
female. Look at the religion that is given to the world 
by a celibate priesthood. — the most selfish and unnatural 
life that a man can possibly lead. His God is just like 
himself, a God without a Goddess, an egotistical male 
God, so vain that he requires adulation, praise and wor- 
ship forever and ever; so revengeful that those who re- 
fuse thus to render him homage, he will commit to flames 
and endless tortures. 

Oh, think of the Inquisition — think of the horrors of 



94 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

war — think of the man-made religion, the male, the posi- 
tive force, standing alone crushing the female to earth, 
going all wrong in everything and ending in destruction 
and error. Nothing will be right until the female prin- 
ciple is recognized equally with the male. 

Think of the American nation not allowing females to 
vote; the government wholly and entirely male; a great, 
one-sided, wagging, wobbling concern, with its million- 
aires and its billionaires; and it wants to be praised and 
worshiped continually like the great male God; and, off- 
setting its millionaires are its millions of toiling, half- 
famished men and women, its prisons and its gallows and 
electrocuting; its distilleries and liquor licenses; its houses 
of ill-fame, and, most terrible of all, its most cruel, bar- 
barous, inhuman, most awful, horrible vivisection rooms, 
where male doctors practice their most fearful orgies on 
bound and helpless victims — victims who have immortal 
souls as well as themselves as they will find to their utmost 
horror when they leave the body, for there is. surely, a 
great law of justice, and all will meet with a recompense 
corresponding to the deeds done in the body. 

I am a spirit, dwelling within the spiritual realm, and 
I know whereof I speak. The most horrible agonies 
await the vivisectionists — agonies that will commence 
even before they leave the earth and will be prolonged in- 
definitely within the spiritual world. Not a groan or a 
cry of agony that comes from their helpless victims but 
what will be wrung from the souls of the persons who have 
inflicted the tortures which have caused them. This is no 
vain nor idle talk, but it is as true as that such things 
exist. 

And now, please remember what I as a spirit tell you. 
It will not be long before one vivisectionist after another 
will become mad, or partially so. Some of them will be 
confined in lunatic asylums and none will hardly be able 
to look upon them and retain his senses. They will be- 
come raving maniacs, drooling at the mouth, with start- 
ing, burning eyeballs; they will be confined in cages of 
strong iron bars, for they will claw, and gnash with their 
teeth in the most frightful manner; they will yawl and 
groan and spit like cats in agony; they will bark and bite 
and froth at the mouth like rabid dogs; they will tear at 
their hair, and claw their own flesh from their bones; yea, 
they will tear out their own eyes, break their own fingers 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 95 

and various bones of their bodies; they will even tear at 
and pluck out their own tongues and other organs; they 
will tear whatever clothing is put upon them in shreds 
and remain shivering and naked in their cages; they will 
snap at their food and swallow it without mastication. 

A human being sunk so low that he can become a vivi- 
sectionist, has become lower and more devilish than the 
lowest, most poisonous reptile that ever lived. He is the 
vilest of all living creatures and will suffer as no other 
creature ever did or ever can; for, all the world of cruelty 
that ever has been in the past, cannot compare with the 
awful cruelty of the vivisectionist. Presently you will 
hear of some prominent vivisectionist becoming insane; 
then, one after another; and even those who escape pun- 
ishment on earth will suffer all the tortures I have de- 
scribed when they leave the body — for, "I am a just God, 
saith the Lord of Hosts, and every man shall reap accord- 
ing to his folly." The just God being the great eternal 
law of Justice. 



LETTER NUMBER EIGHTEEN. 



If the higher did not assist the lower in all things, cre- 
ation would be at a standstill — chaos would result. 

My dear son, in one of my previous letters I spoke to 
you o£ a time when angelhood was reached, when the two 
rightful halves or counterparts were blended together and 
became a completed angel. Now the higher heavens are 
all composed of angels; completed, bright, glorious angels; 
far — very far on toward bliss, wisdom, love, and truth; 
until, at last, they arrive at a point where they under- 
stand nearly all natural laws — comprehend them fully in 
all their details. When an angel reaches this altitude, the 
angel is in a sphere where there are no children and noth- 
ing is in this sphere that is crude or undeveloped; but, do 
not suppose that the angel selfishly remains here at all 
times, selfishly enjoying bliss. It is just here that the 
orthodox makes a grand mistake. Selfish bliss would at 



M LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD, 

length become a vice, and a selfish angel would be as bad 
as a millionaire of earth, and would immediately fall into 
a miserly, selfish, grasping angel, and would become like 
many on earth who know it all and a little more; by that 
little more we here mean, they will, at last, think they 
know all about God, can analyze him thoroughly, tell you 
just how he looks, of what he is composed; in fact that he 
is composed of a peculiar light in the form of a man. 

Well, now, one can readily see that as soon as one can. 
get God under his finger, something as one might a flea, 
and, perhaps, examine him with a microscope, that one 
becomes greater than God; in fact, that one has mastered 
God; for anything that one can understand, one has mas- 
tered — becomes the master — consequently is higher than 
the thing mastered. Now, when one can tell you how 
God looks and of what he is composed, that one is higher 
than God — above and beyond him — for that one can tell 
you all about him and consequently, God sinks into insig- 
nificance — has been thoroughly analyzed and mastered, 
and is beneath the feet, so to speak, of the one who has so 
analyzed and mastered him. 

Is not this the height of folly? Who has ever yet mas- 
tered God? I have been in the celestial life for more 
than twenty years, have been an angel or completed whole 
for a greater part of that time, have associated with angels 
of a superior order, but among the countless host have 
never yet met one who had ever seen God — who could an- 
alyze him or knew of what he was composed. Great, eter- 
nal laws we are trying to comprehend — to understand; 
and, as fast as we understand them, we have, by so doing, 
mastered them; mind and spirit have become greater than 
the laws they have mastered; perhaps a step nearer toward 
understanding God's methods or great natural laws; yet, 
after all, we are subject to those laws and may not trans- 
gress them; in fact, we are a part and parcel of them. 
This brings us back to the point from whence we started 
— angelhood. 

Now we have mastered the laws pertaining to angel- 
hood, consequently have become an angel. If we could 
master all the laws pertaining to God, or see God, or un- 
derstand God, or know of what he is composed, we should 
be God or Gods; but this could never be until the limits 
of eternity were reached. Eternity has no limits and we 
can not reach that which is not, consequently can never 



LETTEKS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 97 

see God or understand him or analyze him; and, as you 
have a saying, that no man lias ever seen God or looked 
upon his face and lived, we can say that no angel has ever 
seen God or expects ever to look upon his face and still re- 
tain existence; for to see God — or in other words to reach 
the limits of eternity which is limitless — would be to 
cease to exist. Anyone can see that such a postulate is 
null and void. When anyone of earth tells you God is 
perceived as a peculiar kind of light in the form of a man, 
that one really perceives an angel and nothing more. 

As we said at the commencement, an angel cannot self- 
ishly remain in bliss, but must go forth — which is the 
meaning of the word angel — and be a messenger of good 
to those who have not reached angelhood. Whatever 
knowledge an angel may have attained must be imparted 
to those who have not reached the same altitude. Chil- 
dren and all undeveloped spirits must be instructed and 
all beings still within the material body must also receive 
knowledge in all its various branches, from us, and we, 
also, must constantly receive from angels who are beyond 
and above us in wisdom. Certainly all that we have said 
must be self-evident; it would seem to need no other proof 
than the mere stating of the fact. 

We often hear those of earth say: "0, we can know so 
very little about a future life, after all. We hardly know, 
and really cannot know, much about a future state." 

Friends, this is an error. Very much can be known 
about our life here by those on earth; and right here the 
Colonel wants to say a few words, and we are more than 
willing: 

"Good friends, don't fall into the error of saying, 'We 
don't know — we don't know,' but go immediately and try 
to find out. This, forevermore, shall be my watchword. 
Uncover. Discover. Find out. If at first you don't 
succeed, try, try, try again, and forever quit saying, 'We 
don't know — we don't know.' 

"Now good Herr Franz and myself are trying to tell you 
some of the things that you don't know, so that you may 
know something about this life. Personally, I have no 
home here yet composed of granite. Personally, I am not 
yet an angel and must aver that I am still a spirit and ex- 
pect to be for an indefinite period; but, when you ask me 
if there are homes here, I answer decidedly in the affirma- 
tive — homes so beautiful that I can scarcely look upon 



98 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

them — homes of the spirits and homes of angels — elegant 
halls and institutions of learning. my friends, I want 
to describe to you some of the things that I have seen 
since coming here. I don't need an especial home at 
present, for I have enough to do to visit all the places to 
which I am invited, and what time I have to spare I spend 
at my earthly home with my wife and children. This, at 
present, fills my cup more than full, running over, pressed 
down and shaken together. Don't think that the spirits 
and angels are all insane when they tell you that they have 
homes, halls, institutions of learning, and so forth; and 
don't think them untruthful when they tell you that 
these homes, temples, halls, etc., appear to be composed of 
marble, granite, alabaster, mother of pearl, diamonds, 
gold, silver and precious stones, for they certainly look 
like such things; and yet, far more beautiful; neither does 
a spirit simply imagine a thing that is not. That would 
be worse than the Christian Scientist. 

"The Christian Scientists say, that all matter is mind, 
and if you say that the spirits imagine like an insane per- 
son, that all they see does not exist at all except in their 
imagination — why you are running at the other end of 
the gauntlet. 

"Sow, let us examine the facts as they really exist. 
Matter exists as sure as you exist and as sure as the earths, 
suns and planets exist. Spirit exists as sure as that you 
have a living principle with or within you, for all life is 
spirit. Soul exists as sure as that you are yourself or 
ego — I am — the great I am — that is what the old philoso- 
phers called it. Now all existent things are composed of 
spirit and matter and yet another principle, soul. Some 
very erudite ones call it force, but why not use the good 
old word soul, and then the common people, and those 
who think themselves uncommon or of better matter and 
spirit than their brother, can comprehend us. When you 
drop the material you only drop the coarser part of it, that 
is, the heavy cumbrous part of it, and enter the celestial 
realm, or the more sublimated part of matter; for the 
celestial world is composed of sublimated matter which i> 
infiltered with its corresponding spirit, also its correspond- 
ing soul or entity, ego. I am, each, that I am; and this 
means a tree is a tree, a flower is a flower, an animal is an 
animal, a man is a man, and so forth. Whoever thinks 
i hal man alone has a soul is in error. Each thing in exist- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 99 

ence has its own corresponding soul or ego or individual- 
ity. Now when a soul or ego enters the world of sub- 
limated matter, it immediately clothes itself with that 
matter, and everything is clothed according to its kind, for 
it is the ego which draws to itself its own clothing, covers 
itself. 

"All natural things that arise up from the earth clothe 
themselves, or take on sublimated matter and appear as 
formerly except more intensely beautiful; but all works of 
art which are created within the soul of man must be 
recreated here and clothed upon with sublimated matter. 
When a man on earth builds a house composed of marble, 
granite, wood or stone, or other material, you do not call 
that man insane and say that that house does not exist 
except in the imagination of the man and other men, but 
you say that man has clothed his house, which existed 
within his mind, with marble, brick, stone or wood, and 
it is real — an object to be enjoyed by that man and other 
men. Now we must ask: what are the composites of mar- 
ble, brick, wood, stone, and so forth? Why, my friends, 
they are of chemical composition, chemically combined. 
What is granite? A hard, chemical combination of what 
at first was sublimated matter. Suppose, then, we enter 
a world where all matter is in a sublimated condition? 
We here find sublimated marble, sublimated granite, etc. 

"Now a soul says: T want a beautiful home. I would 
like a marble palace;' and the soul being more powerful 
than the sublimated or chemical properties of marble, 
gathers, by the force of its more powerful will, the subli- 
mated chemicals of marble about it and fashions the house 
to suit its mind or the pattern existing within the mind. 
Now this palace is built of real sublimated marble, as real 
to the spirit or soul as marble is to earthly man or men. 
The sublimated marble corresponds to the ethereal man 
as the hard material marble corresponds to the material 
man, and so of all works of art. 

"Now a spirit child does not play with an imaginary cat, 
or any other imaginary pet animal. The Indian does not 
ride an imaginary pony. The child plays with a real spirit 
cat. It would not know how to imagine a cat if it had 
never seen one. The Indian would not be at all satisfied 
with an imaginary pony,, for the Indian is about as 
material as he can be, but his pony is the spirit of a real 
pony. A child must be taught from real objects and not 

L.ofC. 



100 LETTEKS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

imaginary ones, for small children have not the art of 
imagination at all developed. 

"No; the child must have its real doll, its real cat or 
dog, or bird, or book, or blocks of figures, or the alpha- 
bet — its real pictures and so forth, and it must be clothed 
in real clothing, else it would be entirely naked, for it has 
not yet arrived at an age where it is capable of eliminating 
its clothing from its spirit. The clothing must be elimi- 
nated from the mind of its parent, guardian, teacher, or 
spirit who loves it, and its little spirit sheltered and 
cared for. 

"The clothing of a spirit or soul is also manufactured 
from chemical affinitization, drawn together by the will of 
the spirit or soul, and fashioned according to the pattern 
within the mind. It is the mind working on sublimated 
matter that causes it to coalesce into the shapes desired so 
that it becomes real and objective to all; but remember 
that these things apply only to works of art. All natural 
objects exist as they do on earth and draw to themselves 
their own covering of sublimated matter. All matter is 
chemical in its nature and can readily be made invisible to 
the sight of man. The sun is doing this every instant of 
time — dissolving all material things as rapidly as possible 
and drawing them upward into the celestial world. 

"If water is drawn up by the sun in countless millions 
and billions of tons, do you not think that gases, carbons, 
and all chemical properties whatever are also drawn up? 
But, whatever one may think, such is the case. Not only 
are they thus drawn upward, or rather outward, but all 
material things, whatever, first existed as elementary or 
chemical properties within the never ending ether. 

"Now this doesn't sound much like the old Robert, or 
at least the ego, has drawn to itself and assimilated a little 
more knowledge. I have clothed myself with sublimated 
matter instead of condensed or hard matter and it suits 
me much better. Why, friends, I have simply gotten a 
new coat, that is all. How do you like it? Looks well, 
doesn't it? It feels all right and is as easy and subtle as 
can be. I don't want to say too much this time, else you 
may think I am telling all I know, and I propose to save 
a little for another time. Au revoir. ROBERT." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 101 



LETTER NUMBER NINETEEN. 



I have in a former letter stated that very much more 
might be known of our life here in the celestial world 
than is known at present on earth; and very much will be 
known as the years go by. When telepathy, or thought 
transference, becomes an established scientific fact in the 
lower world among the people there — and by this I mean 
all the people of the world, for it will at length be tested 
by nearly everyone — then will come the grandest reveal- 
ment the world has ever known, and this interesting 
epoch is opening up rapidly. Very soon it will seem as 
natural, and to be expected, to hear direct from loved ones 
in the celestial world as it is at present to hear from 
friends who have gone to another town, or to another city, 
or across the ocean. Of course we are well aware that 
very many at the present time do thus hear from the loved 
and supposedly lost ones, but this is now confined almost 
exclusively to the people called Spiritualists, and those 
not Spiritualists call those who are, crazy cranks, fools, 
lunatics, and so forth; but, the tables will soon be turned; 
they are turning now as fast as the important subject will 
admit, and then the whole world will understand it as 
well as telegraphy is understood at the present time. 

Think, my friends, of the many wonderful experiences 
that spiritual beings are continually passing through, and 
how much they desire to tell their friends left on earth all 
about them. 

my dear son, what wonderful things I could relate, 
what interesting, thrilling, dramatic stories I could tell 
you. You will understand that this is true, but the world 
at large would not accept them as real facts but would say 
that you were drawing upon your imagination. Well, let 
them thus say, for their say will be short at the best. 



102 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

The editor of The Progressive Thinker will know that 
much or all I may tell is true. I have lately visited him — 
put myself en rapport with him — and consequently know 
that he is'my friend; and I wish right here to talk to him 
personally for a short time. 

Do you know, kind sir, that your paper is the open 
doorway between the two worlds? Yes, you do know it. 
Can a greater mission be given to a being yet on earth 
than the one of door-keeper between heaven and earth? 
Think of the vast resources of heavenly wisdom that are 
passing through your hands wherewithal to feed the 
multitude. Over forty thousand readers, you say; but, as 
I have looked around, I find it is nearer fifty thousand 
people who are fed and refreshed from the celestial world 
weekly. Each week about fifty thousand persons' thoughts 
are raised from earth to heaven, and when their thoughts 
are agitated on spiritual subjects that is the very time 
when we take the opportunity of transmitting truth to 
their minds. 

Just at this present time thousands of human beings are 
being sent to this world through the awful horrors of war; 
their bodies lie broken, maimed and bloody on the field of 
carnage, and many spirits and angels are busy receiving 
and caring for their spirits or souls. These poor men are 
mostly young, unripe, inexperienced — not fit to come 
here at all at present — men just entering at the threshold 
of earthly life; they have been robbed of the material life 
and experience that should have been theirs; they come 
here filled with sorrow, grief, disappointment, bitterness, 
hate, revenge, ignorance; their first and greatest thought 
is to return and wreak their vengeance on their enemies. 
Man is a freewill agent, and these unripe ones are very 
headstrong and slow to learn wisdom, consequently they 
cannot be held in check as a body. There are a few who 
listen to words of wisdom, but they are few; they return in 
spirit to the battle ground, or to their foes in private, and 
ofttimes their vengeance is of a most horrible nature — so 
horrible in fact that it may not be related here. Xot only 
do they wreak their vengeance on the foe but on the foe- 
man's innocent wife, child, sister, mother and relatives, 
even upon infants and old men; then, again, the foemen 
meet here in spirit and the warfare is kept up indefinitely. 
The body can no longer bo slain and so they devise horri- 
ble tortures for the spirit. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 103 

Brothers, sisters, these things are so; they are not 
imaginary. Teach and practice war on earth and it is 
continued within the heavens, often long and extensively 
before those engaged in it can be brought to see the error 
of their ways, for nature evolves but slowly and a spirit 
does not become wise and good at one stride. 

Now when an ambitious general comes to this life, 
whose sole desire has been to conquer by force of arms — 
that is slay his foeman — he is generally met by a large 
army of the slain men, greatly to his surprise. How 
strange he feels when he finds that none of them are really 
slain, simply transferred from one plane to another. Now 
there stands before him an army that cannot be slain, a 
bitter, revengeful army of living souls. He glares at 
them and they glare at him. It is now their turn, they 
think. It is now an army against one man. Everything 
is reversed. But a short time before, at his command, a 
whole regiment could be destroyed at one fell swoop; now 
he stands alone, and a regiment swoops down on him. 
He may gather a few of his own men about him, but it is 
useless. He can no longer slay his foes and they cannot 
slay him, yet their feelings are not changed in the least. 
He desires to annihilate them, and they would like to 
make him suffer for the wrongs they have received at his 
hands. Filled with wrathful hate they swoop down 
toward him and every man there wants his own separate 
revenge and is bound to have it if he can get it. It doesn't 
take long for that wretched general to discover this. He 
cannot kill them and there is nothing now left him but 
to fly. 

Carlyle, my dear son, I have met a captain, colonel, or 
general, flying at great speed, horror and fear depicted on 
his countenance, with an army of revengeful, wrathful 
spirits in hot pursuit — an abject coward. Sometimes 
they overtake him and are able to hold him for a time and 
then they plot how they may best torture him, and often 
his sufferings are fearful to behold. This state of things 
cannot well be avoided, or made at once right; but, as 
rapidly as it can be done, all wrongs are righted. How 
much better to make things right on earth, to work for the 
right there, how much better that man should not slay his 
brother man. On the other hand a soul comes here who 
has, during his earthly life, worked only for the good of 
mankind in general. Perhaps he has been a great musi- 



1 < » 1 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

nan, a great writer, a great inventor, a great philosopher, 
a great reformer; a man who has striven to give truth to 
the world and not error either in religion or politics; a 
man who has loved his brother and tried to help him in 
every way he could; he comes to this life; all the spirits 
and angels have taken cognizance of his doings. How is 
he met? Let me tell you. After his immediate relatives 
and friends have met and received him, a throng of grate- 
ful and loving spirits and angels are waiting to do him 
honor, and they vie with one another to see which shall 
give him the greatest amount of happiness; for every kind 
act he has done for humanity, a thousand souls — aye, a 
million — stand ready to do him every kindness in their 
power; they meet him with reverential gestures and 
acclaim; they crown him with laurels as their king; they 
weave garlands and bowers of beauty for him; they form 
triumphal arches with his name inscribed thereon; they 
often seat him in a golden chariot, crown him with flowers 
and march to the strains of angelic music through the 
arches, while the chariot is drawn by prancing steeds. 

These are no idle tales, my dear son, but as true as that 
I write them to you; and how we want to tell men of earth 
all these things. Listen, listen! men of earth, for you 
will soon hear more about this life than you know at 
present. Commit no wrong, for it will meet you as sure as 
you commit it. Oh, there is so much I want to tell you. 
A man or woman who has lived all his or her life on earth 
Irving to do something to benefit humanity, on coming 
here and having received very little on earth as recom- 
pense, finds as the general before mentioned, that the 
order of things is reversed. All those whom he or she has 
ever been the means of benefiting now array themselves to 
benefit him or her, and untold riches are heaped upon 
them; but money has no power; the wealth of the soul 
I lecomes all powerful. Still, as I have said before, we have 
spiritual correspondences. We have that which appears 
like gold, silver, and precious stones, but one soul has as 
much power over such things as another, providing the 
Boul itself corresponds or has wisdom enough to manufac- 
ture them from sublimated matter; but no one can possess 
these things except those who have wisdom, love and 
I ruth; and these cannot be bartered for gold. There each 
soul stands for what it is really worth. 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 105 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY. 



We wish to answer some thoughts which we gather by 
telepathy from many, very many minds still on earth, who 
reason from matter up to spirit. Do not reason thus, for 
allow us to say that such a method of reasoning is all 
wrong and leads to erroneous conclusions. Whoever 
starts right will usually end right, especially in drawing 
conclusions from reasoning. Do not start with a cell of 
protoplasm, or matter, and then through chemical affinity 
reason up to spirit, for by thus doing you will invariably 
end at nowhere or in the bogs and marshes of error; but 
commence with spirit, which descends into or is attracted 
to matter, with which it covers itself and then continually 
draws matter to itself until it is fully developed — each 
spiritual germ according to its kind — then casting aside 
its covering it ascends in its perfected form into the 
celestial realms. 

But we have already said enough about this in one of 
our former letters and would not say this now if the 
medium's brain were not somewhat agitated, having just 
finished reading a long dissertation on the subject. We 
wish to cast this error out of the mind of the medium, also 
out of the mind of many others. Many come to the con- 
clusion that a spiritual being cannot have feet, hands, 
eyes, ears, or any other organs, and so a great many philo- 
sophical thinkers get stranded, all because they do not 
start right. 

When a person wants to reach a certain town, or other 
place, he must take the right road, otherwise he will be 
lost in innumerable by-paths that lead anywhere and 
everywhere except to the place he wants to reach; but to 
come back to the subject with which we started — our life 
here in the celestial world. 



106 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Carlyle, my beloved son, you know that by nature I was 
a very restless and active man when with you in the flesh. 
You also often thought me a very impatient one, and I 
now fully understand why I seemed thus. When in the 
body I could not make the reasoning of earthly men tally, 
especially man's religious reasoning, which exasperated 
me beyond measure; and, as I could not then find my way 
through such a mass of error, I impatiently threw up all 
religion and became, like my friend Ingersoll, a confirmed 
agnostic. When I left my body and entered this beautiful 
and soul-satisfying celestial realm, I actually reveled and 
shouted for joy. But I will not repeat again the details of 
my entrance into this life, but pass on to more important 
subjects. 

I would that I could straighten out the threads in every 
man's life, yet, if I cannot do this, I will do all I can 
toward its accomplishment. Ever since I found myself an 
immortal being my paramount idea has been to meet and 
converse with all the great men whom I ever heard about 
on earth; and when I found that this desire was easy of 
accomplishment, it made me intensely happy and now 
much of my time is passed meeting and conversing with 
those whose minds are great, very great indeed. These 
great minds are all engaged more or less as professors in 
institutions of learning in all its various branches. I 
myself teach in eight or ten different colleges or depart- 
ments of knowledge. On earth I was simply a professor 
of music, teaching the art, as you are well aware, in your 
own conservatory; but my mind was exceedingly restless 
and craving. I wanted to understand other things as well 
as music, so I set myself to the task of arranging and com- 
piling music from its first principles. In this I was very 
successful, as you well know, but when I had thus written 
up music, I wanted to commence with the universe, start- 
ing with first principles and going as far as I was able. 
Carlyle; dear boy, I did not start right, and you always 
told me so; but I thought my son could not, certainly, be 
wiser than his father, for you admitted that you had not 
given the principles underlying the universe much 
thought, \>u\ you were sure there was a life after the death 
of i lie body, and I round thai no argument of mine could 
Bhake your faith. When J asked you what proof you could 
give me, you answered that you could not give me any 
except that it was the unalterable conviction of your own 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 107 

soul, but my soul had not this conviction and I was uncon- 
vinced, yet if I had started right, as I did in music, I 
should have arrived at the same conclusion as yourself. 

Now in this world our great aim is to start right in all 
things. The great principles underlying music can be 
applied to all things in nature without making a single 
mistake. We commence with the very lowest sound that 
can be made to vibrate within the atmosphere, and we go 
on until we reach the very highest sound that can vibrate 
on mortal ears. When we have done this we have really 
only struck one grand octave which comprises all the 
intermediate octaves and scales within it, but there are 
really many octaves above and below this that human ears 
cannot detect, and these, together with the octave already 
mentioned, reach up into the spiritual realm. Now I 
think I can prove this to any candid mind. All musicians 
are well aware that a string can be made to vibrate so rap- 
idly that no sound can be detected by them, but if there 
is vibration, there is certainly sound; yet the sound can 
only be heard by refined spiritual ears. There are very 
fine mechanical wheels that can be made to whirl so rap- 
idly that no sound can be heard by mortal man, and the 
fine spokes, or flanges, of the wheel cannot even be seen, 
it simply appears like a solid body at rest; but if one were 
to touch that wheel, the hand that touched it would 
immediately be destroyed; the motion has reached the 
invisible, the spiritual, and destroys or casts aside all 
coarse matter with which it comes in contact. 

Now these things alone are enough to prove that there 
is a higher state of being — a spiritual existence. I like to 
prove each statement I make as I go along. If two invisi- 
ble substances, by being joined, can form water — a very 
material and visible substance indeed — do not wonder at 
all when I say that we can, if we have the required wis- 
dom, form spiritual gold, diamonds, silver, and all man- 
ner of precious stones; we have only to unite certain sub- 
limated chemical properties and we can have anything and 
everything that we desire; and this gives us all manner of 
building material — whenever we erect our homes, halls of 
learning, and temples of wisdom — so refined and beautiful 
that earthly men and women cannot even conceive of 
them; and in these homes we reside; in these halls and 
temples we teach assembled multitudes, congregations, 
classes, and so forth. 



108 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

In order to have beautiful surroundings we must have 
beauty of soul, wisdom of mind, purity of thought and 
action, love for all that live, move or have a being, and an 
earnest desire for truth in all its manifold forms. Wis- 
dom, love and truth — all things can be compressed in 
those three words. Their opposites are ignorance, hate 
and falsehood or error. If a spirit, or mortal, will not 
seek wisdom, it must remain ignorant; if it will not 
cherish love it will certainly hate; and if it cares not for 
truth it will be false and deceitful. We have all this here 
as you do on earth. A man who comes here in ignorance 
is ignorant still. If he is filled with hate, he hates still. 
If he has been a falsifier, he is false still. If a sensualist, 
he is sensual still; and so of every faculty pertaining to 
the soul. 

Now cannot you see that we have enough to do, that 
none may remain in idleness with impunity? I think a 
description of some of our establishments here will inter- 
est you, as I hope I have settled the question that we have 
all which is enumerated in these letters. I have already 
described one hall of learning wherein I listened to Jesus 
of Nazareth and others, teaching the spirits in prison. I 
also told you of my own home and that other angels had 
vastly more beautiful ones — that the beauty of many of 
these temples and homes transcends even the imagination 
of man or woman, and that the homes correspond to the 
souls who create and inhabit them. In all this I have 
told you the truth. The home of each wise angel is 
usually erected by that angel. Sometimes, friends who 
love the angel dearly, aid a little, more by suggestion than 
otherwise; but our schools and temples, halls, and so forth, 
are erected by companies, or bands of angels, all working 
together for the purpose, until such glorious, shining 
buildings stand before us as to fill us with wonder and 
awe. Earth has nothing that can compare with them. 

Think of a grand edifice composed of diamonds and all 
manner of precious stones, each holding a deep spiritual 
signification. Now imagine that a number of the greatest 
architects who have ever lived on earth and have for a 
long period of time been angels within the heavenly 
world having correspondingly added to their art, joining 
themselves together to plan this beautiful edifice, and 
then the large band of angels working together to erect it. 
This will give VOU a faint idea of our buildings and how 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 1 00 

we build. Some of these elegant halls are for the purpose 
of teaching chemistry, which is a grand study with us; 
others that may be compared to your churches, to disabuse 
the minds of new-born spirits from religious dogmas and 
errors; others for music; others for art in all its various 
forms; but here there are no prisons, no penitentiaries, no 
court-houses, no government officials, no policemen or 
police court. Hospitals we have in plenty for sick, 
ignorant and despairing spirits who come here. Our one 
great purpose is to teach vicious, ignorant, depraved 
spirits wisdom, love and truth; not to punish them for the 
transgressing; for natural law is doing, and has done, that 
already; but to raise them up out of their degraded con- 
dition. Our mission is to right all wrongs as rapidly as 
possible. 

Now we could not do all this by simply floating around 
in ambient ether, without homes or abiding places, or 
temples and halls, or objects of any kind except in the 
imagination. 

Many Spiritualists are really more inconsistent than the 
orthodox, for the orthodox have a heaven with pearly 
gate.:, and golden streets, thrones, harps, crosses, robes and 
all the rest Really, much of this is true — true in one 
sense—for they are objects to be seen, lived with and en- 
joyed. 

In the book written by the spirit of my first wife, called 
"Mary Ann Carew" — which was really her maiden name 
— spirit life, together with child life, is entered into in de- 
tail and at great length. The book contains over four 
hundred pages, was written entirely by the spirit who was 
the mother of my son Carlyle, passing into spirit life when 
he was but three years of age. It will be impossible for 
me, in these letters, to give much minutia as is given in 
that book, besides, I cannot write as interestingly as a 
beautiful woman can. Go purchase that book, espe- 
cially mothers who have little children. The book can 
be had at the office of The Progressive Thinker for one 
dollar. You will never wish the dollar back. I am quite 
sure of that. We intend, as we proceed with these letters, 
to enter more exclusively into details than we have done 
thus far, still it will be but glimpses compared to the 
books which we have written through the hand of our me- 
dium, yet before we could give even such glimpses, we 
have been obliged to prepare the way, else none could pos- 



no LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

sibly understand them, especially those abstruse philoso- 
phers who think we simply float about in ether, without 
chart, rudder or compass. Still, we do not expect that 
these will believe what we have to tell, for we may not 
hope to convince any man against his will. 

My dear wife, Helena, and myself have been out walk- 
ing, but we returned in time to control the medium to 
write this letter, and it seems to me that what we expe- 
rienced in our walk cannot fail to interest those who be- 
lieve we are telling the. truth, and in our next letter you 
shall hear all about it. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-ONE. 



Not far from our beautiful dwelling rises a grand old 
forest — a spiritual forest — a forest of spiritual trees — and 
thither we wended our way. We sauntered slowly along 
that we might enjoy all the exquisite landscape spread out 
before us. 

I have previously stated that our home stands on the 
bank of a beautiful lake, where the water shimmers and 
sparkles, and numberless little pleasure boats are dancing 
on the rippling waves. Now all around this beautiful 
sheet of water are scattered other homes at convenient 
distances from each other. they are beautiful — beauti- 
ful beyond description! I would that all who read this 
could see them as I and my dear wife have seen them to- 
day — as we see them every day when we are at home. 

Some are built of marble, some of pearl, others of gold 
and precious stones; some of silver, others of diamonds. 
These homes are surrounded by beautiful grounds — spir- 
itual grounds, my doubting friend — and these grounds 
contain trees, shrubbery and flowers. Many of the 
houses are literally covered with flowers. Think of a 
home buill Of glittering diamonds, literally covered with 
of all shades and colors, the red and white predomi- 
nating, with the diamond house glittering through them: 
then think of the grounds wilh shady avenues of trees. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD, ill 

beautiful flowers, shrubbery, green lawns, besides lilies and 
flowers of all kinds; fountains of marble; fountains of 
gold and silver throwing up their sparkling jets of water, 
and statuary, almost angelic in its truthfulness to nature, 
gleaming here and there in many places. Each home is 
built by those who occupy it, to suit the taste of those 
who build them, according to the beautiful that is within 
them. 

My dear wife and I cannot feast our eyes too long on 
the heavenly scene. We often visit the people — or angels 
rather — who live in these homes, and they return our 
visits; but, to-day, we started for a stroll in the woods, and 
soon we neared the forest and entered it. An earthly for- 
est is often grand and sublime, then what shall be said of 
a spiritual forest? The sublimity and grandeur of this 
forest is beyond words of mine to describe. The lofty 
trees tower upward until one grows dizzy to look at them. 
Every tree is perfect in its kind and shape, and there is a 
solemn hush and stillness here not felt except in a grand 
old forest like this. 

How long has this forest stood here, you ask? 

The spirits and angels hereabouts cannot tell. Longer 
than any can remember. The ground beneath our feet is 
soft and yielding, covered thickly with beautiful moss and 
filled with wild flowers of all kinds. How did this forest 
get here, you ask? It grew here from the spiritual ema- 
nations of earthly forests, and the flowers are the spirits of 
the corresponding flowers of earth, the moss the same, the 
sublimated essence of earthly or material things, and our 
own spiritual forms the sublimated essence of our 
earthly forms; the soul is the living germ that I have de- 
scribed in a former letter developed up to this point. 

We had taken with us a beautiful little white poodle 
dog, named Flossy, the spirit of a little dog that once be- 
longed to a lady who is still upon the earth — a lady in 
whom we are deeply interested. Helena has vowed to 
keep that dog until the lady comes here. She will be ex- 
tremely glad to see it, one may be sure. Well, now, this 
beautiful little dog acts very much as any such little dog 
does on earth. He gambols about with delight, he barks 
with joy, but never a fear moves his little heart, his eyes 
are most heavenly and beautiful to look into, and his love 
for, and devotion to us, is something wonderful. We can- 



1 1 2 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

no i tell whether he remembers the lady who used to own 
him or not. This is somewhat of a puzzle to us. 

Helena and I took seats on a moss-covered hillock, for 
we dearly love to listen to the little birds. Their singing 
is far sweeter than when on earth, for all spiritual sounds 
are devoid of coarse harshness. How did these little birds 
get here? They are the spirits of the birds that once 
lived on earth, and they correspond to their earthly forms 
just as we correspond to our earthly forms, sublimated, 
spiritualized, and exceedingly beautiful. You could not 
hear them sing on earth, for their notes have ascended 
into that octave which is not audible to earthly ears. 

We both look around with eager eyes for we have been 
here very often before. We expect another pet — yes, two 
of them; perhaps more. Ah! here they come stealing 
softly through the trees, beautiful, great, tawny creatures. 

"Oh! what are they?" you ask, fearfully. You need 
not have the slightest fear, my friend. These are two 
enormous lions, but they will do us no harm; they won't 
eat us, because they cannot, and they would not if they 
could, for they are not hungry. Hunger with them is a 
thing of the past — they left it below with their more gross 
material bodies which they have no longer to feed; their 
spiritual bodies are sustained, as ours are, by ethereal, sub- 
limated essences of that which rises up from earth. They 
would not have slain any on earth when they were there 
if fear and hunger had not compelled them. Fear and 
hunger are now things of the past with them, as it also is 
with us. You see the beasts and ourselves have risen up 
out of it, both being more perfect in their way. 

"Come here, you great splendid fellow," said Helena to 
the lion; and he immediately obeyed, laying his shaggy 
head on her lap, while the lioness put her paw on my 
knee. I had often shaken this paw before, as one oil on 
shakes that of a dog down below, and the lioness was 
always pleased and seemed to understand; but just how 
much she may be able to comprehend we do not know. 
Of course our planes of existence are very far apart, but 
that makes no difference with immortality. 

Helena patted the great shaggy head of the lion. 

"Now, let us hear you roar, sir," she said; and he un- 
derstood and roared until the forest vibrated with the 
sound. "N"ow that roar could not be heard by earthly 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 1 1 3 

ears for the vibrations were too low and too high, passing- 
out of earthly octaves. 

Helena playfully put Flossy on his back, or rather, on 
the back of his great shaggy neck, and then the lion and 
Flossy began to gambol and play. The lion could not 
hurt Flossy, and Flossy could not hurt the lion, neither 
did they desire so to do. No beasts hurt each other for 
the fun of the thing on earth, they simply tear up each 
other because of hunger. 

"Look at that beautiful little squirrel, dear Franz," said 
my lovely Helena. "Ah! see! There are two or three of 
them. Look at their little bright eyes. How happy they 
are; just as happy as we are." 

They were running up the trees, very near us, and 
paused, looking at us with curiosity. 

"They are just as happy as we are," repeated Helena, 
softly, "and, really, they seem far happier, for we often 
weep for the errors of mankind." 

Insects were also about us; but they, too, were spiritual; 
they had no venom and did not sting. Insects do not 
sting on earth for fun. Many sting because they are hurt, 
others because they are hungry or are fearful of being 
hurt. The hungry ones suck your blood for food. They 
are not fearful now and do not nourish themselves on 
blood, they simply inhale sublimated essences and hunger 
not; and, even if they were to sting, which they do not, no 
hurt could accrue, for the spirit is beyond being hurt. 

Now I seem to hear you ask: "Do you have a sun in the 
spirit world? You talk of shady trees." 

Our light is not the light of the material sun, but it is 
the same kind of light as that of the X-ray of earth. Of 
course we are conscious of your sun as we are conscious of 
your earth and all the planets in space; they are also vis- 
ible to us; but they do not light our celestial world. The 
light of the sun and the planets is coarse and opaque to us. 
One may say that our light is the sublimation of all light 
— the inner or finer part of light. 

"Do you have darkness there?" 

"No; it is one eternal day; yet we have different de- 
grees of light, and artificial darkness. A progressed soul 
really needs but very little darkness, an undeveloped one 
must have more or less of it, consequently we have arti- 
ficial ways of obscuring our light; but I cannot, in this 
letter, enter into all its details. 



1 1 I LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Now if Helena and myself had visited a large, tropical 
foresl — for there are many such within the celestial 
world — we should have seen elejmants, tigers, leopards, 
and all kinds of animals belonging to such a forest, but as 
we have always been accustomed to such forests as grow 
in Germany and Xew England of America, we make our 
home according to our former habits, yet we travel exten- 
sively whenever we feel inclined. 

The aforesaid philosophers of earth will laugh and 
sneer at what I have written. That will not alter the 
truth of it, in the least. They can float in the ambient 
ether, if they so desire, surrounded by a few other ab- 
struse philosophers, like unto themselves, if they wish, 
with nothing but each other to look at; they may thus 
float to all eternity, it would not trouble us; they can ig- 
nore all animal life; they need not look at the trees or go 
near the water, they can shut their eyes when they pass 
over our beautiful homes, they need never enter them if 
they prefer not; but, between you and me, dear reader, 
don't you think they will get a little weary of eternal ether 
and each other — those grey-bearded, unsexed philoso- 
phers. Helena is laughing heartily at the picture. I am 
afraid that some of them might like to take Helena away 
from me, forgetting, for awhile, that there is no sex 
among the angels. Well, they cannot be angels until 
they feel the need of the female parts of themselves and 
are conjoined to them. A few more words and we have 
done with this letter. 

Through the eyes of my medium, I am now looking at 
a beautiful vase of flowers — semi-tropical, California flow- 
ers. There are calla lilies, two or three different kinds of 
geraniums, the beautiful, drooping acacia, roses, and so 
forth, all gathered from the garden in front of the house, 
to-day, the 14th of February. They are exceedingly 
beautiful, but coarse compared to our flowers, yet, like 
them. Ours are still more beautiful. Beauty is not con- 
fin. ■( I to earth, else heaven would not be as beautiful. If 
heaven had no flowers the most of the women and chil- 
dren would rather remain on earth, for a sucking babe 
carea Qothing lor ambienl ether, but it will clutch, with 
its little hands, eagerly at a flower. Most women and 
girls would be very unhappy if their eyes could never look 
upon flowers. 

.U\<\ back <>f the flowers, before mentioned, stands a 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 115 

crystal dish filled with large, golden California oranges, 
picked to-day from the grove near the house, beautiful 
and delicious to the taste. Do you think that orange 
groves belong only to earth ? Then earth is more beauti- 
ful than heaven. That is not true. Heaven is more 
beautiful and useful than earth. Those oranges on the 
table are coarser and more material than ours. Ours are 
sublimated, refined and vastly more delicious. 

Now out on the back veranda is lying a beautiful and 
faithful dog. He is watching the house all day to see that 
no harm comes to its inmates, but his vigils do not cease 
with the day. It is now night. He is still on duty and 
nothing can take place that his warning bark or growl is 
not given. His love and faithfulness to the inmates of 
the house cannot be weighed or measured. It never 
wavers for an instant, and will not while life lasts. You 
call him a brute, a beast, an animal, a dumb creature. I 
deny every word of it. He has more language than many 
men. He has a different method of expressing himself, I 
admit, but he has as many ways as there are different 
things transpiring, and the one through whom we write 
has learned them all, and well understands, without look- 
ing, when the turkeys are quarreling, when the cats are 
around, when the chickens fly out of the yard, when the 
Chinese washerman is coming, when the Chinese vege- 
table man's cart stops, when a tramp is about, when a 
stranger approaches, when the grocery man is in sight, 
when the coyotes prowl around after the chickens; for 
each and all a different sound or signal is given, and when 
he hears his master's horse and buggy in the distance, al- 
though he cannot see him, his delight knows no bounds. 

Does all this love, faithfulness, and intelligence die, be- 
cause a dog does precisely what man does — drops his mor- 
tal body? No, no, my friends. You are mistaken — very 
greatly mistaken. But if my word will not pass, I will 
try to prove what I have said. Now, as you know, I am 
the spirit of Franz Petersilea, and I desired to give my son 
double proof that a dog has an immortal spirit as well as 
man; so I made myself invisible to the dog. When it 
suits my convenience I walk by the side of my son, invis- 
ible to him, but not to the dog. This I have done again 
and again, that my son may be convinced. Whenever I 
do this the dog, knowing that I am a spirit and not of 
earth, shrink? with a low growl and tail between his legs, 



116 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

with a peculiar expression of awe in his eyes, into his ken- 
nel and, turning therein, keeps his eyes steadily fixed on 
me, still growling low and fearfully. The dog knows, 
very well, that he cannot harm me, he knows that I am a 
spirit and that he cannot frighten me, but he doesn't care 
now to make friends with me — in fact, he makes friends 
with no stranger. 

Now, I put the question to you, one and all, Can a crea- 
ture who has not a spirit see a spirit? Can that which is 
not spirit perceive that which is spirit? I will leave this 
question in the hands of the grey-bearded philosophers of 
earth. They may try to philosophize themselves away 
from truth, but it is better to philosophize one's self into 
truth. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-TWO. 



Sometimes when we are ready to control the one who 
writes for us, we find agitation of mind on some import- 
ant subject. Perhaps some article has been read from a 
paper or book which conflicts with that which we write 
or teach. Perhaps something has been read that is ob- 
noxious to the mind of our sensitive, consequently we do 
not always find smooth, placid waters wherein to cast the 
images of the thoughts which we wish to photograph. We 
thus find it at this moment, and we must first calm the 
troubled mind before we can go on with our work. . The 
present disturbed condition has been caused by reading 
an article in a Spiritual journal, wherein the writer says 
that Spiritualists should cease to sing of the sweet bye 
and bye, come down out of the clouds and work for what 
he calls "this world." By "this world" we suppose he 
means the material or earthly world or worlds. Man]/ 
others also say: "Let us have one world at a time. Don't 
I' i ii waste i bought on any other world until we get there. 
We have nil we can do here and now. Let the sweet bye 
and bye lake care of itself. Live only in and for the 

!li." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 117 

Now as I, or rather we — for I do not like to ignore the 
better part of myself, my wife, my other-self, by beautiful 
Helena — now, as we are in what the writer calls "the 
sweet bye and bye," and as it is not the sweet bye and bye 
but the sweet now — the beautiful present time — we think 
it will not be out of place for us to write of this sweet 
now; for we are right here and now, and the most of that 
which we have to tell has already passed, even as this 
writing will have passed on, or become something of the 
past, as soon as we have finished it; in fact, each word as 
we write it has become a thing of the past; but, while we 
hold our sensitive for the purpose of writing these letters, 
we flit back and forth a great many times within twenty- 
four hours, that the connecting link between ourselves 
and the sensitive may not be broken. 

Each time we have put ourselves en rapport with the 
one who writes for us, we have found this stone which has 
been cast into the waters; so we thought we would, per- 
sonally, visit the one who cast the stone, put ourselves 
en rapport with him, and find out whether he was really 
living in one world, without giving thought to any other; 
for, certainly, he ought to be able and competent to do, 
himself, that which he advises others to do. He says he 
is a Spiritualist, and if all Spiritualists would do as he 
thinks they should do, something of importance would be 
accomplished and a plan presented. 

Now if all Spiritualists and others, for no doubt he 
would like to have others do the proper thing also — as 
this man thinks they ought to do — why of course he 
would be the master of the whole world, and all persons 
would be his obedient servants, for they would all do 
precisely the thing which he thinks ought to be done. He 
has not yet said what he thinks ought to be done, but he 
has said what ought not to be done — that is, "Stop think- 
ing about the other worlds, and the sweet bye and bye, 
and confine your thoughts to the lower world, the earthly 
world, the material world. I mean this world wherein I 
stand. Don't think about any other. Now, right about 
face! Look at me — straight at me — I say! Don't dare 
turn your eyes upwards! This earth, and this alone, is 
the only one you have a right to look at; for have I not 
said so, and consequently it is so. Now, as soon as you 
have come into line, and fastened your eyes on this earth, 
and this alone, and have ceased to sing or think of the 



118 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

sweet bye and bye, I have other commands which I wish 
you to obey, but I will reserve them until I get you in 
order, for I cannot do anything at all while you are 
looking at other worlds and thinking of the sweet bye 
and bye." 

Well, friends, I have given a synopsis of about what we 
found in that man's mind. We also found in looking 
over this man's past life, that, as a boy, he used to throw 
stones vigorously; in fact, he stoned every cat and dog in 
the neighborhood; he was that kind of a boy that breaks 
every pane of glass in an untenanted house. He used to 
browbeat and make faces at tiny little girls, and so forth, 
and so forth. You all understand just the kind of a boy 
he was; and "as the twig is bent the tree's inclined," you 
can all understand just what kind of a man he is now. 
He is simply a type of a great many other men, a tyrant 
on a very small scale. It is well for the world and for all 
other worlds that their commands are not heeded. 

When such men grind you down to the earth earthly, 
to the exclusion of all other worlds, the next step is to 
draw the lines still tighter: "Now don't look at any other 
nation or country than your own;" then, "Don't look 
anywhere except at me. Now march just as I command 
you! Think just as I think! I look within for my hap- 
piness, and you look at me. If you dare to cast your eyes 
upward, to the stars, or other worlds, I will throw you 
into prison or a dungeon where you cannot see them. If 
you dare to think or sing of the sweet bye and bye," which 
means, of course, the other or higher life, "I will perhaps 
boil you in oil, break you on the wheel, or something." 
But we think we have said enough to show the tendency 
of such a spirit. 

Now to a spiritual sensitive this is antagonistic and aw- 
ful. I do not at all wonder that we find the mind of our 
sensitive in a disturbed condition. If the spirit mani- 
fested by that writer caused no disturbance in other 
minds, we might pass it by without notice, but it really 
lias struck thousands of sensitive spirits in the same way 
and with the same effect. To the mind, it is the boy who 
pelts the poor timid cats and dogs with stones, now grown 
a young man pelting the timid, sensitive souls of men and 
women with stones cast from the mind. 

If Galileo had confined himself to one world, you would 
u II be, to-day, in the Dark ages. The most of those on 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 119 

earth would think it flat, the sun, moon and stars simply 
lights set in a firmament — "the greater light to rule the 
day, the lesser light to rule the night." If Benjamin 
Franklin had confined himself to the earth earthy and 
had not thought of something above it — had not lived in 
the clouds, so to speak — electrical, motive, and lighting 
power would not be known on earth to-day. If Newton 
had not thought of other worlds, and the power by which 
they were moved, the great laws of gravitation, attraction 
and repulsion, magnetism, positive and negative forces, 
the great eternal cords that hold all worlds and universes 
together would never have been understood or compre- 
hended in the slightest degree. If Swedenborg, Andrew 
J. Davis, Hudson Tuttle and others, had not thought of 
other worlds than the one whereon their feet rested, noth- 
ing would have been known of the Spiritual zones. If 
the little boy who watched his mother's tea-kettle boiling 
had confined himself to throwing stones at cats and dogs, 
and had not thought of something more mysterious than 
the e very-day affairs of life, your world would not have 
had a steamboat, a locomotive, or any other invention 
driven by steam. If men of old had not thought of gods 
and goddesses, your world would to-day, be devoid of all 
architectural beauty and you would, perhaps be still liv- 
ing in tents and wigwams. If aboriginal men had not 
thought of a great invisible spirit, who dwelt above, caus- 
ing the winds to blow, the lightning to flash, the thunder 
to bellow, the waves to roar, and so on through the whole 
gamut of natural sounds, he never would have stretched 
the dried skin of a beast across a couple of logs and beat 
upon it to make a big noise to propitiate the Great Spirit 
— he never would have stretched his bow-string tight and 
twanged it for the same purpose; he never would have 
blown or blared through a cow or ram's horn, nor the 
tribe congregated together while the young men or war- 
riors beat their log drums, blew their ram's horns, and 
twanged their bow-strings in concert; and not a musical 
instrument would exist in your world to-day if they had 
not; for the bow-string evoluted, at length, into a violin, 
harp and other stringed instruments, then into a piano; 
the ram's horn into all kinds of wind instruments, and 
the log drum into all kinds of drums, big and little. If 
the men of old had not looked at and thought of other 
worlds — although not understanding them — the sun, 



120 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

moon and stars, worshiping them as gods all-powerful, es- 
pecially the sun which they worshiped and prayed to, mo- 
notonously chanting their prayers, asking the sun to shine 
and make the grass to grow, that the corn might also 
grow and ripen that their flocks and herds might be sus- 
tained and themselves and those of their households fed 
and clothed, musical compositions would not exist on 
your earth to-day; for such men and women were the first 
composers. They would commence in low, monotonous 
tones, gradually work into a frenzy of supplication, espe- 
cially if the seasons were not good or plentiful, and chant, 
scream, howl, make every sound the throat was capable of 
producing, thinking that thus the sun might be induced 
to shine upon them. Afterward came the chanting, sing- 
ing priests; then chanting choristers; then choirs and 
chanting choruses; and then, as the ages rolled on, came 
a Bach, a Mendelssohn, a Beethoven, a Mozart, a Liszt, a 
Chopin, a Wagner and a countless host of other compos- 
ers, until to-day your world is filled with music and mu- 
sicians. 

Beethoven was entirely deaf, yet he heard the music of 
the spheres, for no man had given your world anything 
like it. His soul heard and gathered that which was not 
of your world. He was singing of the sweet bye-and bye 
— and the heavenly Mozart — what cared he for the earth, 
earthy? The angels gave him whole sonatas and an- 
thems, perfect in all their parts, with a single impression. 
To be sure he must write them out afterward, but if he 
had thought of but one world at a time, those who dealt 
in that higher and better world could have given him 
nothing, and he might have rested on a dung-hill, or 
begged his daily bread from door to door, for he was poor, 
very poor indeed, in earthly dross. 

And now we come to plays or theatrical performances. 
How and where, think you, these took their rise? In old, 
ancient China, farther back than any history goes, by 
( Ihinamen in their Joss houses. Change the word Joss to 
God, and God to thunder and you have the meaning of 
the original word, and theatrical performances had their 
origin in the following way. 

The Celestials desired to please their ruler and on the 
daya when he, together with his retinue, visited the Joss 
houses, they put on splendid barbaric apparel, apparently 
glittering In gold and precious jewels. They thoughl that 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 121 

each season was ruled by a particular God or Goddess, 
and they in a crude way at first showed how the Gods and 
Goddesses ruled the seasons, and they could gain the favor 
of these Gods and Goddesses by talking or parleying with 
them. They could thus make the seasons propitious. It 
would make this letter too long to enter into the details, 
but the God or Goddess of each season was represented, or 
had a representative — somewhat as the United States 
sends a representative to Congress from each state to 
manage affairs to favor the state — and these representa- 
tives were supposed to be on familiar terms with the afore- 
said Gods and Goddesses and could tell the Emperor and 
the people at the Joss houses, or houses of thunder, all 
that each had said and done during the month in which 
he or she reigned; and it was the barbaric splendor, the 
music and the acting of all this that first gave rise to the- 
atrical performances. 

Every theatre and play on your earth to-day has been 
gradually evolved from the ancient, native Chinese. 

The sun, moon and stars were also represented, or had 
their representatives, also thunder, lightning, rain, the 
wind. At length it took weeks of time to perform one 
play, and it became a yearly carnival of longer or shorter 
duration. 

If the Celestials had never thought of other worlds than 
their own, there would not be a theatre on the earth to- 
day, nor an actor. We do not mean by this that they 
might not have been evolved from other nations, some- 
what in the same way, but, simply, that those were the 
first that your earth ever knew. 

People on earth can no more live for one world at a 
time than man can live for himself alone without refer- 
ence to his brother man. So, dear friends, think of other 
worlds in connection with your own — think of the sweet 
bye-and-bye, and it will not only sweeten your lives but 
bring you near to the angels, for they are now in that 
which you call the sweet bye-and-bye, and the closer you 
come in contact with the celestial life the more celestial 
and the happier your own lives will be. 

By coming en rapport with the higher life, many will 
be able to benefit the earthly world as these great minds 
have done that we have already spoken of. 

If Edison did not think of the higher life, and put him- 
self en rapport with the angelic world, becoming entirely 



VZ2 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

oblivious to the earth and his surroundings, there would 
be no telephone, no electric lights, no phonographs, no 
animated, moving pictures. Yes; and the earthly world 
is on the eve of a great many other miraculous discoveries 
and inventions which will be more and more astonishing- 
still, moreover — if Editor Francis had never thought of 
other worlds and their possibilities, if he had not come in 
touch with the higher life, if he had not thought the peo- 
ple needed bread from heaven, wherewith to feed their 
hungry, starving souls, he never would have edited and 
published The Progressive Thinker. Others have edited 
and published spiritual papers, to be sure, but Editor 
Francis has fed the multitude! 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-THREE. 



In our last letter we spoke of the ancient Chinese, and 
intimated that they had, in the earlier ages, been sun wor- 
shipers; they also believed that their ancestors had come 
from the sun to the earth, and they thought at death all 
who had led good lives on earth returned to the sun — 
that is to say, the visible sun was to them what the Chris- 
tian's invisible heaven is to him. They believed that the 
souls of the departed were traveling back and forth on the 
sunbeams or rays of light. 

Perhaps we can make ourselves better understood if we 
say that to them the sun was God, the moon his wife, the 
stars their children, and they had names for all the big 
and little stars. Some were male and others female. 
Still they did not believe that all souls went directly to 
God or the sun. They knew nothing of the revolution of 
the planets, but thought that the sun's disk was simply 
the face of God, his body being invisible, or, rather, con- 
cealed by cerulean draperies. If the day was bright and 
clear, God was pleased with them; if dark and foggy, God 
was displeased. If the clouds were heavy and brought 
rain, they thought God had gotten over his displeasure 
and with his two invisible hands had gathered the dark- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 123 

ness and fog together and thrown it away from him in the 
form of rain, afterward smiling upon them more brightly 
than ever; and thus even his anger was beneficent; but 
when there was thunder and lightning he was very 
wrathful. The lightning was caused by his flashing eyes, 
the thunder the sound of his awful voice in anger; and 
when the rain came down he was beginning to be pleased 
once more. The winds were the breath of God, or God 
breathing. If the winds were heavy, God was weary; if 
mild, God was more at his ease; and thus of all the various 
manifestations of nature. -They thought that God swal- 
lowed the souls of all who were worthy to become his 
food, and afterward purged them forth, when their vir- 
tues and best qualities had been appropriated by him; 
that they then again returned to earth and absorbed the 
virtues and good qualities of their relatives and friends 
and once more returned to God as servants loaded with 
good things for him; they were again swallowed, again 
purged forth; and thus they were going and coming at all 
times. God had also to feed his wife and children — the 
moon and stars — and it was considered the greatest hap- 
piness that could come to a soul, to be one of the servants 
worthy to feed God, or for God to feed upon. 

Afterward arose the idea of feeding God with other 
things than human souls, and so crept in the idea of sac- 
rificing animal life, also fruit offerings. By thus doing, 
God would spare to them their children, for they thought 
him particularly fond of good, beautiful, innocent little 
children; and possibly their other friends might not die, 
or go to feed God, quite so soon; for, although it was the 
greatest possible honor, still, love for their little ones and 
nearest friends sometimes conquered all other feelings. 
A mother's grief and tears over a sick or dying child, 
often caused the father to go forth to find a substitute in 
the form of an animal, or choice fruits, begging God to 
take these instead, and spare the child to its mother a little 
longer. 

God's wife, the moon, was a little coy, and wore a veil 
much of the time; sometimes covering her face wholly and 
often partially and coquettishly drawing it aside. 

When the sun went down at night, they thought he had 
gone to visit regions of darkness, or a place corresponding 
somewhat to the hell of the Christians. The earth being 
flat, this region was under or beneath it; they had an idea 



134 LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

that this region was filled with horrible and grotesque 
monsters and all manner of things that were strange and 
frightful and to this region wicked or bad souls went, for 
God would not feed upon them, they were obnoxious to 
him, did not tempt his appetite, consequently, he threw 
them from him and they sank into an abyss and roamed 
in darkness beneath the earth; but they were not destined 
to roam there forever, for God, or the sun, went daily to 
see if any had repented of their follies and become good 
enough for him to feed upon; if so, he immediately swal- 
lowed them and the next day purged them forth and they 
were then able to retain their earthly friends. Their 
bitter experience, beneath the earth, had taken away all 
desire to do wrong, and they were now good and holy, or 
restored to be the servants of God; so, no matter what the 
sun might do, it was all powerful, all beneficent in the 
end. 

This is a very slight, brief synopsis of what the very, 
very ancient Chinese believed; also what many other very 
ancient peoples believed; in fact, all sun worshipers had 
similar ideas; afterward came regular paganism as related 
by various historians, but we need not here enter into all 
the complex details of paganism; others have done this far 
better than we can, especially in a short letter which is to 
be published in a weekly paper. 

Now no one at the present day should laugh at these 
ideas of infantile races, for they were great, grand truths 
in an undeveloped condition. 

These ancient Chinese had no idea that there were other 
earths or worlds than the one on which they found them- 
selves; but their crude minds understood, in this way. 
that which their eyes beheld. The struggling mind 
grasped the first great principles of nature, and underly- 
ing each idea was a grand truth. It is not the unsophis- 
ticated natives that are farthest away from truth, but 
oftener the educated, wily priest, and the rich, powerful, 
selfish ones of earth. The Christian religion was only 
Paganism artfully worked up into what is now called 
Christianity. Tell the fashionable popular minister of 
your present day, that his God was originally the Joss or 
Thunder God of ancient China, meaning, simply, the sun, 
and he would not believe you; neither would he believe 
that bis hell was originally the region supposed to be be- 
neath tlie tint earth, since worked over to suit the interests 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 125 

of the Romish church. They have added the Devil and 
and the fire — yet the idea of the Devil was borrowed from 
an ancient name, Lucifer, the great, bright evening star, 
falling, as it does, so quickly from near the zenith to the 
horizon and sinking out of sight sooner than any other 
star in the heavens. This star was also called Lucifer, 
the light-bearer, when it was the morning star, but it is 
now called Venus. It is really the planet Venus. Think 
of that beautiful star being the originator of the horrible 
idea of endless hell-fire and Satan or the Devil being cast 
from heaven into hell or utter darkness. Do they realize 
that the Christ idea was simply the Pagan idea of the 
birth of the new year, formerly called the Savior of the 
world, as it really is, for if the sun did not return to the 
spring and summer solstices, man and beast would alike 
starve and perish. 

Of course you of to-day know that it is not the sun that 
does return, but the revolving earth as it oscillates back 
and forth in its revolution around the sun. Do these 
fashionable ministers realize that they are preaching more 
ignorant ideas than even their pagan ancestors ever cher- 
ished — that they are really farther away from the truth 
that the sun-worshipers or pagans were? Such is the 
fact however. 

Now there was a Jesus of Nazareth, as we have before 
stated. He was an enthusiastic reformer, as many other 
men have been. He is so still, as an angel and exalted 
teacher, saving mankind and spirits from error, leading 
them gently toward the light and the truth. 

"We have said there was a great truth underlying each 
idea of the most ancient peoples. First: The idea that 
they originally came from the sun. 

Now your earth was really one of the many rings 
thrown off from the sun, and was not formed independ- 
ently of the sun from fire-mist or star-dust or nebulae, or 
from the swirl of a vortex. 

Now I am a spirit and I have taken great pains to in- 
form myself, truthfully, on this all important subject, and 
those speculations and theories are not the correct ones. 
No one ought, now, to accuse me of desiring to foist my 
belief on others, or magnifying my own importance, or to 
think that I, personally, have discovered some great truth 
not before known to man, therefore swell up in stubborn 
pride, believing myself right and all others wrong; and, 



1 20 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

by so doing, becoming a stumbling block to all farther 
progress, thereby falling myself into the bogs of error and 
uncertainty. If all worlds were composed of star-dust, 
nebulae, fire-mist, vortex swirl, and so forth, and so forth, 
all worlds would be alike; you would not, and could not 
have a variety. All would, necessarily, be either suns or 
moons or stars. 

Now the sun of your system of worlds is the only one 
that gives out light and heat; the other planets have no 
light and heat of their own, and would not be visible to 
your earth at all but for the light from the sun, which is 
shining upon them, thus making them visible to your eyes 
when your part of the earth is in darkness or shadow — in 
its own shadow — as that part of it is turned away from 
the sun. 

"Well," you reply, "every schoolboy understands this." 
Granted, that the greater part of them do; but they do not 
understand why the sun alone of all your system of worlds, 
gives forth heat and light, while the other worlds are 
dark and cold, neither do they, when looking at Jupiter, 
understand why he has belts or Saturn rings; why they 
each have so many moons; why your earth has a moon; 
why Mars presents such a strange appearance, and so 
forth. Your star-dust, nebulae, fire-mist, and vortex the- 
ories, will never smooth out, nor answer, truthfully these 
important questions. 

Now do not call my son Carlyle in question. He 
knows nothing of it. His whole life, thus far, has been 
given to music. He has never given a dozen thoughts to 
other worlds than the one on which he resides. Music 
has occupied his every thought and all his time since early 
childhood. He commenced teaching music when a boy, 
and when he was studying in Germany, with the old 
masters, still taught all the pupils he could obtain at that 
early age, himself studying day and night, giving the 
usual hours, recitals and recitations at the conservatory of 
Leipzig, and on returning to America, after helping to 
found the New England Conservatory, becoming its first 
and principal professor of piano playing, for many years; 
still, not content he instituted a large conservatory of his 
own, teaching therein all day, and every day except Sun- 
day and playing nearly every evening, until near mid- 
night, at various concerts and piano recitals. 

No, no, my friends. He has scarcely had a moment for 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 127 

thought outside of music during the whole course of his 
life, and as for reading, he has actually never read any- 
thing except a novel or two, with occasionally a cursory] 
glance at the daily newspapers. He has had no time for 
much but music. So do not blame him for anything that 
I, his father, may Write. He has suffered enough on my 
account already. I swear to you, dear friends, one and 
all, that it is I — Franz Petersilea — the spirit, soul, or 
angel of his father, that controls and does this writing. 
He is a great and peculiar sensitive. He and I were 
never alike, not in the least. He found his rightful call- 
ing in music; not so was it with me. Although music was 
my profession, it should not have been. I have now found 
my rightful place or calling, and it should have been on 
earth just what I have now found it — a writer and a 
searcher after the great eternal laws and principles under- 
lying and governing the universe. I think I have now 
said enough to put things in their right and proper light. 
I do not wish credit, name or fame. I am above and 
beyond all this, being a denizen of the celestial world; but 
I wish to give truth to the lower world and truth alone — 
truth as I have found it, experienced it, lived it in my own 
person; but, to go on with the subject in hand — the true 
theory of world-building. 

The true theory of world building is the atomic theory, 
as I myself have actually seen and found to be so. I did 
not discover this great truth. It was discovered thou- 
sands of years ago and taught in ancient Greece, Aristotle 
being one of its expounders. I have often met and held 
long conversations with this grand soul and most wise 
teacher. I have visited other worlds in company with 
him and others like him; and this great truth has been 
demonstrated to me beyond the shadow of a doubt. I 
have visited the sun, together with him and others, and 
have discovered — know positively — that it is not at all 
like the earths, that it is not an inhabited planet, that it is 
not now a compact and solid earth, that it is composed of 
two distinct and separate bodies, that it is now spiritual or 
gaseous in its nature, that it holds in solution all the 
elements, and many more that the men of earth know 
nothing about — that the light and heat of the sun is 
caused by the playing back and forth of the great eternal 
principles of which its bodies are composed, call them by 
whatever names it may please you, carbon, magnetism, 



128 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

electricity, spirit and matter, gases, positive and negative 
forces, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, anything and every- 
thing. 

One of the bodies of the sun is as black as night and the 
eye of man never rested upon it; the other is, apparently, 
a pale amber flame. They lie millions of miles apart but 
always directly opposite each other; they roll in their 
orbits exactly at the same rate. We might, to make things 
simple and plain, call the black body carbon and the 
amber one magnetism. This is as nearly true as any other 
form of speech that could be understood by mankind. 
The magnetic body is forever setting the carbonic body on 
fire; then, as the light and heat shoot forth, the magnetic 
body gathers them all up, sending them back again in 
great magnetic waves, so that neither the one nor the other 
loses anything — so that the plajdng back and forth of 
these elements can and will be kept up for what would 
seem to man an eternity; yet, changes will eventually 
come to it. 

The sun, in one sense, is a vast electric light; one being 
naturally a great chemical laboratory, the other the 
attractive power drawing all these elements to itself and 
thereby bursting into flaming light and beauty. 

Now all this, as yet, has not been discovered by the 
scientific men of earth, but it soon will be and then many 
things will be clear that before were dark and beyond 
comprehension. No one should say, "I have got the 
truth and all the truth." "Whenever one says this, prog- 
ress is at an end; such an one puts himself in the way of 
all progress, although claiming to be progressive. What 
I have here told, I know, positively, as a spiritual being: 
but I do not know it all. There are countless ages yet 
for me to live and learn; but when we here do discover a 
great truth, we like, and really must if we can, give it to 
the earthly worlds, each to his native world if possible. 

"Well," you now ask me, "how is it that the atomic the- 
ory is correct?" I will tell you in my next letter, also how 
the planets came to be thrown off from the sun, as they 
certainly have been; but, in the meantime, go and buy 
"The Discovered Country." You will find these great 
1 ruths elaborated in detail in that book. 

Now, it is not personalities we want, but truth. If is 
not who gives the truth but, is it truth? Personalities 
Bhould be sunk in truth — the truth appearing bul not the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 129 

person who is used as the medium for giving it to the 
world. Fifty years ago as much truth was given to the 
world as it at that time could comprehend and make use 
of, but if the world were to stop there it would never get a 
step farther. The ones who gave great truths to the 
world at that time are not able now, while in the body, to 
go much beyond them. They have done their work, oth- 
ers now must take it up and go on. This is the only way 
to get ahead. Those whom the spirits used fifty years ago 
were, at that time, sensitives; but, the years have made 
them positive, consequently the spirits cannot use them 
for mediums as they formerly could. They should not 
clog the wheels, but be joyful that the work can still be 
carried forward. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR. 



We promised in our last letter to tell you how the sun 
of your system of worlds came into being; and when we 
tell you this you will know how all other suns come to be. 
Suns are forming to-day just the same as they eternally 
have been and just as they eternally will. 

Suns are formed, or grow, within the great eternal sea 
of atoms. Eternity might be likened to the ocean, ex- 
cept that it has neither beginning nor end; it is limitless. 

"Well," you ask, "why don't you tell us something new ? 
We already know that/' 

There is nothing new, neither within the heavens nor 
upon the earths. Everything is as old as eternity itself. 
Everything always has existed and always will. The sun 
existed before it became a body of light, but it existed in 
the form of atoms. Now, in order to make ourselves un- 
derstood, we must first tell you all about the atom. All 
eternity is composed of the male and female principles, 
positive and negative, spirit and matter; but the very low- 
est, first forms in existence, have the two principles com- 
bined in one form; and this is true of the atoms. Each 
atom is a tiny speck of pure flame — or spirit or magnetism 



130 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

whichever you may be pleased to call it — surrounded and 
covered by matter. The spirit within the heart of the 
atom is the female principle; that which covers and con- 
ceals it is the male principle. Now these can be called 
by any other names that one may choose — force and mat- 
ter, potentialities and so forth — but we think that male 
and female principles, positive and negative, more exactly 
expresses the truth and can be better understood by the 
ordinary reader — and the ordinary or common people are 
the ones we are talking too, the uncommon people do not 
need instruction and hardly ever change their minds, no 
matter who talks. 

In earth life these atoms are invisible, for they are so 
ethereal in their nature that they belong to the octave 
above human sight, but they are distinctly visible to us 
here within the celestial life. Now atoms are never at 
rest, for nothing remains statu quo, but they are in con- 
stant motion. In fact each tiny atom is revolving in its 
own particular orbit. The little flame or spirit within the 
heart of the atom is a magnet, or magnetic attraction. 
The law of this magnetic attraction is to hold or grasp 
each other as closely as possible, and soon a body, or small 
globe is formed. This is what we denominate growth 
within the eternal sea of atoms. Now, countless suns are 
forming, or growing, at all times; ever have been and ever 
will be. As this small globe revolves, it continually at- 
tracts and holds other atoms — and all atoms that are any- 
where within its attractive power — its size, together with 
its orbit constantly increases, and all eternity is before it. 
It has no need of hurry — no more have the angels and 
spirits, and earthly men and women would not hurry if 
they were exceedingly wise. 

At length, after many ages, this body of atoms has be- 
come very large and heavy, its own weight and motion 
have compacted it and at this epoch of its growth it has 
no light of its own, it has but one body or form which, as 
I have already shown, is the first or primary form, con- 
la in ing the male and female principles, equally, within 
1 lie one form; and this is true of all first or primary forms 
whatever, as every naturalist well understands. When 
i his bod} has reached a certain stage of size and weight, it 
has icachcd what may be called .1 stale of maturity, it is 
ready to propagate. 

Now, this fust ot primary form, is no1 hard or com- 



LETTEKS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 131 

pact like your earth, but more like the soft jelly-fish; it is 
smooth and round, or egg-shaped. Presently its size is 
so enormous that it cannot bear its own weight, and the 
whirling motion loosens an outer crust which naturally 
falls away from it, the inner globe escaping, as it were, 
from its shell. Now this ring which it has thrown off is 
repelled by the motion of the first body to a certain dis- 
tance, and yet the attractive power of the first body holds 
the second at a proper distance. This ring, by what is 
called centripetal power or attraction, gathers itself to- 
gether at its central point and thus becomes an independ- 
ent globe, but because it gathers itself together at its cen- 
ter its crust is all ragged and broken, in other words 
wrinkled and uneven; great yawning chasms and moun- 
tain ridges; yet at this time it is comparatively soft and 
warm. 

Now we might say that this first ring or globe is the 
sun's first child. The sun keeps on gathering and grow- 
ing as before, circling in its own orbit, which is contin- 
ually enlarging. The baby world follows on as fast as 
possible, but its orbit is smaller, for it is small compared 
to its parent. The first globe, at length, throws off an- 
other ring, and thus it continues to do until it has thrown 
off seven. It has now become too hard and old to throw 
off any more and is preparing for a great change. 

Up to this time the sun had no light except a very pale, 
amber light, caused by the magnetic or spiritual principle 
within it, and, of course, its baby worlds emitted about the 
same; the light being somewhat like phosphorus. But 
the sun was now old and must die or separate, disinte- 
grate, change; that being the natural law of its chemical 
construction; so, as the countless ages wore on, it grad- 
ually gave up every particle of its spiritual or magnetic 
flame. The body of matter which the spirit had left be- 
ing now as black as night, but the spirit, as all must un- 
derstand, was the little magnetic flame at the heart of 
each atom, still retained the same form and size as before, 
also the black dead body of matter. But nothing is dead. 
Nothing does die. It was simply a change that a higher 
state of things might exist. 

Now the spiritual flame shot forth into space until it 
was millions of miles away from its material body. Now, 
behold, a great event! The first or primary form had 
separated and become two forms, one the positive and one 



L32 LETTEKS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the negative, male and female principles, separated, the 
positive force forever attracting the negative, both these 
substances being elementary or elements. 

Now that these two bodies are exactly opposite each 
other, forever holding each other in exact balance, and 
they roll in their orbits like a double wheel — a dual globe, 
the spiritual or magnetic principle forever setting fire to 
the carboniferous globe, causing a continual burst of 
glorious, flaming light and heat; great waves of magnet- 
ism, or spirit, are forever flowing toward the carboniferous 
globe and as the bursting flames shoot forth, every ray. 
together with the heat is gathered up by the other, and, 
after chemical transmutation, is sent back again in the 
before-mentioned magnetic waves. Now this is what 
constitutes the light and heat of the sun. The seven 
rings which it threw off previous to the change are now 
bathed in heat, light and magnetism, or spirit. They, in 
consequence, congeal and harden or are baked into rock: 
and, in our next letter we will tell you more about it. 

Now this is no idle speculation; and my son knows no 
more about it than others do; but, I am a spirit and I do 
know. If it were not so I would on no account take the 
trouble to write so great a falsehood. But I have said 
that I would try to prove each statement that I made. 
We can only do this by appealing to the reason of those 
who read. 

If all planets were formed separately, and in the sain*' 
manner, from star dust, nebulae, swirling vortex and so 
forth, why are some burning light, while others are dark, 
having no light of their own? 

Some talk very learnedly about vibration, or light and 
heat being caused by vibrations. They wind themselves 
all up in vibrations and don't know what they are talking 
about when they get through; and we agree with a former 
writer when he said, "Vibratory moonshine!" They are 
vibratory moonshiners. There is certainly, a vibratory 
law, but it never was the cause of light and heat. Some 
will have it that vibration is the cause of all things. Oth- 
ers will have evolution running alone; and thus each one 
to his hobby. It is all right enough until one learns bet- 
ter, hut when you grasp one law in one hand, look out that 
you have its counterpart in the other. No law runs alone 
throughout the universe — but its complement, whether 
hidden or otherwise, is always with ii and must he taken 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 133 

into account. A great analogical chain runs through all 
nature. 

Now we do not expect that all will believe what we have 
written. Few believed Galileo when he declared that the 
earth was a globe and revolved in its orbit, but now a man 
would be considered a fool who did not. It really is not 
a matter of belief but an established fact. 

Presently some astronomers will step out of the beaten 
track and declare that the sun is a dual body of chemical 
and elementary principles, and in a hundred years from 
the present time anyone holding the old idea that it was 
simply one large body, or earth, will be laughed at as one 
not up to the times; and, thus the world moves on as all 
things move on, as the sun moved on. 

The Christian world to-day has a great he God without 
a she; but the God of nature, or the real God, is he and 
she forever at oneness; and nature, in all her varied meth- 
ods, never evolutes into one great hybrid neither male nor 
female — neither is sex a matter of accidents but a great 
eternal law in nature; and, sometime, we will tell you all 
about this law; yet, we will here say, that every atom in 
the universe is male and female united in oneness at the 
very foundation of all that exists, and without the two 
principles in equal proportion, nothing can exist or be 
created. It is creation itself; or, God if you will. 

The sun appears, to those of earth, as one body, when it 
is really two in one. It is a type of the angelic world. 
The true male and female are blended into oneness, yet 
they are two distinct bodies making one perfect or com- 
plete angel, constantly emitting rays of wisdom, love and 
truth, and forever performing all manner of good works. 

Earthly marriage is the type of the heavenly union — 
and you have an ancient saying, "That they twain shall- 
be one flesh," or one; and if this is true of earth, it is, in a 
higher degree — or a higher plane of evolution — also true. 

So weep not, lonely, desolate ones of earth. A little 
while and the joys of a true union will be yours. A lov- 
ing companion awaits you somewhere, and you will surely 
meet and go hand in hand throughout eternity together. 
The universe is not governed by accident but by eternal, 
underlying laws or principles which never vary in their 
results; neither do we speculate when we tell you from 
positive knowledge and experience — tell you things as we 
have actually found them. 



134 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

When friend Robert came here he did not believe in a 
future state of being; but he has found that there is. 
When I came here, 1 had not believed in a future state, 
but thought if there were one, I should prefer to live a 
single life. I had become somewhat tired of matrimony 
and its consequent cares and anxieties, having had two 
wives and many children. I went on alone for a while, 
but the great, eternal law soon confronted me to my hap- 
piness and contentment. The details of all this I have 
already given in "The Discovered Country," and no ro- 
mances of earth can exceed, or compare with those of the 
celestial life. 

Now anyone can readily see that if the light and heat 
of the sun was simply caused by vibratory action, that all 
the planets, together with your earth, would be suns of 
more or less magnitude; but, such is not the case. The 
planets simply shine with reflected light, that is, they 
reflect the light of the sun which is shining upon them, 
and all these reflected rays are again returned to the sun 
to be absorbed within her vast laboratory, where they re- 
turn to their former chemical condition — once more sent 
forth in great magnetic waves to the black body, or the 
counterpart, again bursting forth into blazing glory, again 
darting through space to warm and vivify the planets 
which, as we have shown, are the children of the sun, to- 
gether with the grand-children, the moons, which the 
planets have thrown off. 

Anyone can see by this that moons are not old, worn- 
out worlds, but baby worlds — the grand children of the 
sun. 

We do not expect to be credited at the present time. 
Many will laugh; others will sneer; some will say that we 
are spirits of a low grade and very ignorant; others, that 
we are lying spirits; nevertheless this will not alter or 
change great eternal laws or truths; and, when that re- 
nowned and great mind, which now bears the name of 
Hudson Tuttle, comes here, we shall laugh and shake 
hands and be glad to meet each other. I will introduce 
him to my Helena and ask him, with a smile, if he thinks 
Bhe lias become less a woman than formerly when she was 
on earth? 

We here, in the celestial life, love this great and good 
man. lie has accomplished an immense amount of good 
— or the angelic world working through him; almost more 



LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 135 

than any other man of the present time of the earth, and, 
really, many of us here feel impatient of the delay. How 
we long to take him by the hand, show him our wives, our 
homes, as well as the animal life that exists here; honor 
him as he deserves honor; at the same time we shall say 
to him: Dear Mr. Tuttle, all truth cannot be given to earth 
through one medium or channel, but through each and all 
avenues that we are able to make use of. 

Years ago, when you were a sensitive lad, all the truth 
possible to give to earth, at that time was given. The 
world could scarcely bear even that. As you grew older, 
coming into man's estate, you became more positive; being 
the male, or positive element, spirits found it more diffi- 
cult, and many of the ideas you now entertain were im- 
bibed in early childhood, and you, yourself, know, how 
hard it is to overcome such fixed ideas. Nothing, now, 
can change them but transition; and it is well for all, and 
the world at large, that transition comes to them sooner 
or later, else all progress would be at an end. Nothing 
can change fixed ideas but actual experience. If I had 
not had this experience — if I did not positively know by 
actual contact with all that I have thus far related — I 
would never take the time and trouble to control the sen- 
sitive whom I use as I now do. I desire to give truth to 
the world, and to do good, as much as ever you did. You 
have given to the world an immense amount of truth, but 
not all the truth. There is, really, much more to be 
known, and others now must be made use of. So do not 
clog our wheels, for many take every word that falls from 
your lips or pen, as unchangeable, eternal truth. It is 
better to have been Hudson Tuttle than to have been 
Abraham Lincoln. Yet both were needed. 

One emancipated the minds — the other the bodies of 
men. All honor be to their names! 



136 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE. 



If every man, animal, reptile, insect, fish, and all vege- 
table life were swept off your earth to-day, in a compar- 
atively short space of time, all these things would exist in 
every part of your globe. The oceans, seas, rivers, ponds, 
and lakes would be filled with fish, insect, reptile and 
animal life would appear; and lastly, man. It would not 
be many thousands of years before man would be civilized. 
Now this would not take place in one little spot at a time, 
but would be simultaneous in every part of your earth. 
Man makes a great mistake when he supposes that it takes 
countless ages for things to evolve from a speck of proto- 
plasm — as though it commenced with one little speck and 
then all must be evolved from that — or, that one ape 
gradually evolved into one man in one particular spot of 
the earth. 

Oh, no, my friends, this is not so; although, in tropical 
climes evolution goes on more rapidly than it does in 
colder regions. 

If your earth to-day was one mass of solid rock and 
water, as it certainly was when life first made its appear- 
ance upon it, this is how evolution did and would take 
place. The moment rock, on every part of the globe. 
crumbled slightly, enough to hold a little moisture, moss 
would immediately form simultaneously all over the 
globe; at the same time within the waters the very lowest 
form of life. The atmosphere would immediately supply 
all necessary germs, and just as rapidly as nature could 
involve, higher and still higher forms would appear — un- 
til the lowesl or savage man — on every island and conti- 
nent, nearly al the Bame time, according as climatic con- 
ditions were more or less favorable. Nol one man alone. 
but millions of men — race after race of savage men — and 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 137 

the world would come up then, just as it has done, into 
civilization, the angelic world aiding it as rapidly as it was 
capable of being aided. 

"Well," you ask me, "how could that be possible if the 
spiritual spheres had not been peopled from the earth?" 

Why, my friends, there are millions upon millions of 
earths in just the condition we have described, at the pres- 
ent time, but, on the other hand, there are millions upon 
millions of other planets that are progressed far, very far, 
beyond these earths, and there are countless millions of 
spirits and angels from these planets who can be, and are, 
interested in these crude earths, working with and for 
them. How else would intelligence and spirituality ever 
appear? 

Go out and gaze into the vault of heaven at the count- 
less stars which are suns to other systems of worlds that 
cannot be seen with the naked eye; then consider that all 
these worlds are co-related and you will get an idea of my 
meaning. 

There are those on your earth at the present time who 
attract spiritual beings from other planets, especially from 
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Neptune; but Mercury has, 
as yet, no inhabitants, it being the youngest or last ring 
thrown off from the sun. It is still too crude and young. 
It is yet basking in the hot rays of the sun and presents 
little else, at the present time, except rock and water, and 
has somewhat the appearance of your moon, filled with 
great yawning chasms, bursting volcanoes and boiling 
oceans, as your earth was in its youthful period and your 
earth will, eventually, be as Neptune is now, after having 
passed through the various gradations of the planets be- 
longing to your system which are beyond it. 

Now the very ancient spirits, who once inhabited your 
earth, are not so vastly superior to the wisest and most 
spiritual men of earth — and why? 

Because as soon as these former souls left the earth, as 
rapidly as they gained in wisdom they must work for and 
impart it to those still in the body. This is the only way 
that any progress can be made. If angels here simply 
thought only of their own progress and happiness, never 
looking back to aid the ones left behind, they would not 
be worthy of all wisdom or happiness, and consequently 
would be neither wise nor happy. They strive for knowl- 
edge and happiness arid then turn, or descend, and impart 



138 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

it to those below them; therefore you can see at once that 
the wisest ones who have left earth cannot be very far in 
advance of the wisest ones of earth, their proteges. 

Now this is a great truth that many overlook. Spirits 
and angels must work, and work continually, for there 
are millions of spirits here, low, ignorant, debased and de- 
graded. These must be taught as well as the people of 
earth. No time for idleness here — no time for selfish en- 
joyment alone. We must give of our knowledge and hap- 
piness almost as fast as we receive it. 

For instance, Harriet Beecher Stowe, when she wrote 
Uncle Tom's Cabin, said she did not, personally, write it. 
God wrote it through her. She told the truth. She was 
but the instrument used by higher powers, or angels, and 
the angel who personally controlled her she mistook for 
God, not understanding the law of spirit control. One 
spirit must control, but the principles or truths given mav 
be from many or various ones. 

Dear Carlyle, I have met Mrs. Stowe since she came to 
this life. You, of course, remember when she essayed to 
give readings from her books, and you were the pianist on 
that occasion, and what a dismal failure she made of it? 
She thought, and said, that God could write through her, 
but when it came to reading, the people must do that for 
themselves. 

She is much interested in you and yours and is here 
with me now. She says, as she listened to your music, on 
the occasion just mentioned, she thought God was playing 
through you as he had written through her. She says it 
was the most heavenly music she had ever heard. 

The dear little lady was somewhat disappointed when 
she first arrived here, for she had felt sure that she would 
see God. She reasoned that if God had considered her 
worthy to write for him, she would be taken immediately 
into his presence when she left the body; but she was soon 
reconciled and is now exceedingly bright and happy. Her 
appearance is very beautiful indeed — small, dainty, Bpark- 
ling and bright; looking twenty-five or perhaps thirty 
years of age. She has met the one who controlled her to 
write Uncle Tom's cabin, and they have been quite glee- 
ful together over thai fact. She is now prepared to con- 
trol someone, vol in earth life, herself, and she tells me 
thai she hopes to write a greater book than Undo Tom's 
Cabin ever was, and she Is looking for a medium through 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 139 

whom to write it. She touches a great many mediums 
here and there and has been able to write a few sentences, 
but she wants to write a book entire. She says she has 
it all outlined in her mind — that is, her spirit has already 
composed or written the book and now it remains for her 
to give it down through a medium. She says she calls 
the book War, or Hell and Devil versus Heaven. God and 
the Angels. 

By this you can perceive how it is with us all. As soon 
as she gets wisdom she desires immediately to give it to 
earth through some one who is capable of being her aman- 
uensis. You see by this that earth and its surrounding- 
spiritual spheres must go very nearly hand in hand. How 
eager I was to write to you shortly after arriving here. I 
had a bad time overcoming conditions but by persevering 
I conquered, and I then also wrote a book and after that 
many other books. When Mrs. Stowe writes her book I 
shall be one to help on in the inspiration; of course I mean 
Helena and myself. The angel world was determined at 
the time they wrote the book through Mrs. Stowe, to 
emancipate the colored race, and they did so through the 
influence they exerted, directly, upon certain human 
beings — Abraham Lincoln and Mrs. Stowe being the chief 
ones — but in order to do this war must ensue. Hell and 
the Devil must be let loose that Heaven and the Angels 
might conquer — and they did conquer. Mrs. Stowe says 
that another war must come to the American nation in 
order, this time, that the souls of men may be set free; for 
the bondage of the mind is more terrible than that of 
the body. 

My dear son, I have long prophesied this coming war, 
as you well know, and this time it will be a religious war 
for the freedom of the mind. 

The Romish church will, before long, take the reins of 
the government of the United States of America, into its 
powerful hands and again the chariots of war will rush 
madly over that fair country. But the angels will inspire, 
and raise up new leaders, new writers, and, at last, this 
powerful usurper will be overthrown and cast into the sea 
of oblivion. The head of the serpent will be crushed and 
ground beneath the heel — the heel of the angelic world — 
but a dreadful war will first take place and once more 
blood will flow in your fair land. 

Now you ask why cannot the angels bring peace to us 



1 to LETTERS FROM THE SP1 KIT WORLD. 

instead of war? I will tell you why; but, first, I will ask 
you, why could not the angels bring peace instead of war 
in the days of Abraham Lincoln? Because one power 
said, "We will hold the black man in bondage;' 1 the other 
power said, "No, thou shalt not! Man shall be free 
whether he be black, white or copper-colored. Man is 
man, whatever his color or race." 

Now the conservative portion of the orthodox world 
will join hands with the Romish power and the great 
power then will say, "We will hold the minds of men in 
bondage. They shall not go free. They shall think as 
we think and do as we do — or do as we command them to 
do." The other power will say, "We will have our free- 
dom to do as we please. We will think for ourselves. We 
will not be in bondage." And again the clash of armed 
men, the booming cannon, the roar, smoke, and carnage 
of war. But the scarlet woman will be beaten — wounded 
unto death — aye, she will be slain never to rise again on 
your fair globe! 

The angels cannot avoid these things even if they 
would, but they place themselves on the side of right and 
by thus doing truth usually becomes victorious and old 
error is slain. 

Dear Carlyle, there are many other spirits who would 
like to put in a few words occasionally — souls that you 
and I were well acquainted with when they and I were 
with you in the form — and I am sure it makes me happy 
to give their messages, or allow them, as I have Mr. 
Ingersoll, to write a few words for themselves. But all 
mediums should be guarded by one particular control in 
order to do very much good. You, in earth life, do not 
let all sorts of people promiscuously into your homes, 
neither do you associate with the wicked and debased, and 
the law holds good here as well; still, we must try to save, 
or reach the helping hand to all. 

My dear son, I am glad to say that thought photog- 
raphy is about to be given to the earthly world. You 
know that I have been telling you, for a number of years, 
that photography would soon prove, beyond the shadow of 
a doubt, to the whole world at large the great, truth of 
continued existence. This is just on the eve of being 
realized and will become as well established as the tele- 
graph or telephone. Not to Hie few who arc called Spirit 
ualists, but to all the world. 



LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. Ml 

You think this alone ought to put a stop to the inter- 
necine war that Mrs. Stowe has prophesied; but she thinks 
it will not. There are millions of spirits near the earth 
who are still Catholics — believing themselves in pur- 
gatory — and their sympathies will be with the Catholic 
power. They will aid in causing war and will, no doubt, 
possess and obsess very many who will, at that time, be in 
power. How soon this war will take place, Mrs. Stowe 
cannot tell; but she says, she is certain that before twenty 
years have gone by. She is more particularly interested 
in these matters than I am, consequently takes more pains 
to inform herself on the subject; but to return to spirit 
photography, which interests me exceedingly. It has 
become known to many that thoughts have already been 
photographed. One step more and all I have said to you 
in the past will be actualized. In all the books that have 
been written by us to you, we have constantly asserted 
that thoughts were things that could be seen and enjoyed 
by all spiritual beings. 

Many laughed and sneered at the idea., thinking you 
must be crazy. Some held it up to ridicule, saying that 
eternity could not hold all the thoughts that had been 
evolved from the minds of mankind. But such will soon 
be put to blush and will find out to their amazement that 
thoughts are really things, and very tangible ones, too, 
for an intangible thing cannot be photographed. 

Oh, my dear boy, keep your courage up to the sticking 
point, for you are about to be righted before the whole 
world. Not only will spirits be photographed but scenes 
in spirit life, and whole messages or letters will be precipi- 
tated at once upon a sensitive plate. This will not occur 
particularly with so-called mediums, but with all and 
everyone who makes photography a study. Your own 
dear mother wrote this to you, and to the world at large, in 
her book, "Mary Ann Carew;" and, even to you, it seemed 
more like romance than truth. The book was written 
some eight or nine years ago when the idea of thought, 
photography had not yet been entertained, but in all the 
schools in the celestial world it has long been taught and 
practiced. Your mother, in that book, told you of a 
school where your little sisters were being educated, and 
described to you their method of painting pictures. 

You remember how little Katy painted the picture of 
the white heifer with a wreath of dandelion blossoms 



142 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

about her neck, also the picture of her mother, hurling 
the bottle at the head of the negro, and how the children 
were taught to concentrate their minds on that which they 
wished reproduced, and by thus doing the thought went 
forth in undulating, or vibratory waves, from their minds, 
thus striking the sensitized plate and forming the picture. 
Now as soon as the people of earth are able, and can 
accept these great scientific facts, they are given to them. 
But, of course, the books which we wrote were premature 
in one sense, yet not so, after all, for even if one mind can 
be controlled to give forth a great truth, other minds 
soo^i follow, and shortly it becomes an established fact. 
Now photography will also soon prove that animal life 
exists here in the celestial world, and then people will 
begin to realize what cannibals they are, and gradually 
meat-eating and the slaying of animals will forever cease, 
and animals will not be propagated for the sake of eating 
their material bodies. It is scarcely worse for the native 
cannibal to eat the missionary than for the civilized man 
to eat his cow, ox, or the innocent sheep and playful lamb; 
and the earth would produce few of these if they were not 
especially propagated for the purpose of eating. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 143 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-SIX. 



I have now written twenty-five letters for publication. 
With this I commence the twenty-sixth. At first I could 
not be sure my letters would be published to the world, 
consequently I made no especial preparation but addressed 
them to my son Carlyle, who has from the first been more 
than glad to hear from me. 

Dear Friends, — for hereafter I shall address the pub- 
lic — Do not allow any thought to become crystallized or 
fossilized. The moment one does so, all progress is at an 
end. No matter what mistakes one may have made in 
thought, do not hesitate to change that thought for one 
which is higher and better. If a new truth dawns on the 
mind, do not fail to accept it, also publish it to the world 
and your friends; for this is progress — progress in 
thought. Finding Editor Francis kind enough to publish 
my letters — for I much desired they should be — I have, 
since writing my last, taken great pains to prepare myself 
to be heard by the world at large. I wish to lose my own 
personality, allow it to drop out of sight entirely, that 
truth may appear instead of Franz Petersilea. 

Through many witnesses truth may be established; con- 
sequently I have visited and drawn together a large band 
of progressed angels or messengers, all desiring to give 
what truth they may be able to through this particular 
channel. I must, necessarily, still be the door-keeper, or, 
as you of earth are wont to call it, the control. Still, this 
is not precisely the proper word to use, especially in 
thought-photography. Guide or guardian suits me better, 
for I shall allow very many of the great and good ones 
who have become interested, to give their thoughts as 
occasion requires; but, before proceeding, I would like to 
say that my son Carlyle desires no credit for anything 



1 ! ! LETTEES FROM THE SPIETT WORLD. 

that we may give and, of course, he would also like to 
escape any censure. Credit or blame in this matter really 
does not belong to him; but, we here most sincerely thank 
him for allowing us the privilege of giving, through his 
assistance, the truths that we so much desire to give to the 
world. Now, as I introduce one after another of the great 
and good angels, or messengers, to those who read these 
letters, do not be astonished or incredulous, for I will not 
deceive you or introduce deceiving, false, or lying spirits. 

When I was in the earthly life I held myself in the 
dignity of what I conceived, at the time, to be true. I 
associated with none but the good and true or, at least, I 
called no man friend that did not prove himself to be so; 
and, most assuredly, after twenty years of celestial life I 
have not fallen below what I was on earth. I have but 
one desire — Truth — and with it to benefit humanity and 
all with whom I may be brought in contact. And, now, 
allow me, my dear earthly friends, to introduce to you the 
soul or spirit of Charles Darwin. 

"My friends, I think I am not a stranger or unknown to 
the most who will read the lines which I shall cause this 
hand to write. No doubt you all know that I was a 
naturalist while with you in the material or natural body. 
While in that body I studied very closely to gather all 
information possible concerning the material or earthly 
world. I was very eager to know how all things came to 
be and how they existed. I wanted to know all about the 
flora and fauna — all about insects, birds and animals, and, 
last but not least, all about man. I thought if I com- 
menced with the very lowest forms of life and followed 
the chain up link by link truth could not fail to appear. 
My whole earthly life was spent in this arduous under- 
taking, and I sincerely believed that I had discovered 
truth and nothing but truth in all her majestic beauty, 
and I passed into the celestial life firmly convinced that I 
was right. 

"My friends, I had found one of the jewels belonging to 
truth; that was all. The Goddess herself was still veiled 
and coy. I had grasped the jewel, but truth had escaped 
me. Yet, I caught sight of her beautiful face still 
beckoning me on; but before I could overtake her I must 
retrace my weary steps and commence once more where T 
commenced at first. I had forgotten something, and 
nrosi go hack and find it. What had T forgotten? ' 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 145 



tei 



'I had forgotten the spirit, the soul, the animating 
principle, the real cause of all that is, or was, or ever shall 
be. I had been delving in matter to the exclusion of soul. 
The real cause of life had escaped me and I was holding 
dross in my hand. I was dealing with that which 
covered and concealed life, to the exclusion of life itself. 
Now, I desire to retrieve my mistakes and thereby set 
things right. 

"I was right in so far as the evolution of the material is 
concerned; but, I had entirely overlooked involution. I 
thought that if man had a soul — which I very much 
doubted — that continued to. exist after the body was dis- 
solved, that he had attained it through the process of 
evolution, and, right here, my friends, I shall ask you: 
How can anything be evolved that did not previously 
exist? Here is where I made my grand mistake. I was 
trying to evolve mind from matter: That is — I was trying 
to mold matter, gradually, up into mind, thence into 
spirit, and thence into the immortal soul, providing there 
were one. But of this I never felt assured. In com- 
mencing with matter I ended with matter, although not 
fully admitting this to the world. 

"Now, when a man makes a mistake — as all men are 
liable to — he degrades his manhood if he does not admit 
it — if he does not make amends and try to retrieve his 
error. 

"When with you, in the form, I did not know that I was 
mistaken — thought myself right — therefore could not do 
what I now so much desire to do — retrieve my errors and 
mistakes before the world. 

"Through my instrumentality and teaching a great por- 
tion of mankind are swayed and now, finding that they 
are swaying in the wrong direction, it grieves me much, 
as it will all honorable-minded men and women when they 
come here. 

"How it grieves the beautif ul-souled Nazarene, when he 
looks back to earth and finds, that in his name, the most 
dreadful dogmas are taught. Oh, how his gentle soul has 
been wrung with the most agonizing grief. He desired to 
teach the world all that was good, loving, gentle, true. 
How could he, then, dream that men would misunder- 
stand his teaching and meaning as they have? It was 
really some of these misconstructions that drove me away 
from so-called Christianity, that sent me searching out 



l i<; LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

• volution. 1 could not believe in the old Bible myths, 
such as a personal God creating the earth, and all upon it, 
in six days out of nothing or chaos. I could not believe 
that he created a man, called Adam, out of the dust of the 
ground, then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. 
I could not believe that he took a rib from Adam and 
made from it Eve. I could not believe in the talking ser- 
pent, the fall of man, and the atoning blood of an only 
begotten son of such a foolish God. Oh, no; I could not 
believe any of these stories, but knew they must be false, 
fables, myths, and I went searching after what I hoped to 
be truth, and, as before mentioned, found one of her 
jewels — evolution — but did not discern its twin jewel — 
involution. 

"Now, allow me to make amends, I beg. If you knew 
how much happier I should be, how much more good I 
could do the earthly world, you would all listen to my 
voice and allow me to retrieve my errors. 

a I had not been long in the celestial life before I was 
eager to know, beyond doubt, if my theory of evolution — 
which by the way was not entirely mine, for others had 
also followed the same chain of thought, had been 
engaged in the same researches — was true; and, to my 
grief and amazement, I found that it was but half true — 
that my materially blinded eyes had entirely overlooked 
the most important part. Now, allow me, in a few words, 
to tell you what I did discover: Matter, Spirit, and Soul- 
germs. My speck of protoplasm, or matter, could not of 
itself take on any form whatever except simply that of 
rotundity — no, not even that, not even the lowest possible 
form, without the soul-germ, and soul-germs were distinct 
entities and never evolved one into another, or one from 
another — no, not even the smallest or most minute; that 
eternity was filled with these soul-germs as it was also 
filled with matter and spirit. In fact, eternity consisted 
of three primary principles, matter, spirit, soul. At first 
they were all minute points or atoms: A minute point of 
pure flame, or spirit; a minute point of matter, or clothing; 
a. minute point of soul, or germ; but the soul-germ was 
that which fashioned and made use of, or covered itself 
with spirit and matter; that all soul-germs, or germs of 
life, DO matter how low in the scale they might be, were 
distincl entities and could nol develop into aught but 
their own distinct individualities. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. U7 

"It now seems very strange to me that I could have 
overlooked such a great eternal truth. 

"But you ask me: How, then, is evolution partly true, 
or a half truth? 

"Because one form of life makes the conditions for a 
higher form to appear, makes it possible for the next 
grade of soul-germs to take up the matter which the 
former threw down, after developing in full all that 
nature designed them to be. The good guide of the sensi- 
tive whom I am using, informs me that he has already 
written all about this. So I need not reiterate it. He 
has told you the truth. 

"If evolution were true, as I thought and taught when 
with you in the form, why one man or race of men might 
gradually evolve into another. How absurd it all seems 
and childish my thought. Races do not evolve one from 
another or one into another. A white race can never be 
evolved from a black one — never under any circum- 
stances. That they may mix slightly, up to a certain 
point, I admit; but, beyond that point, or limit, they 
cannot go. 

"Look at the American Indian. He does not evolve, he 
dies. It will be the same with the black man and African 
negro. Many think the Africans will evolute gradually 
into a white race. Never! They also, as a race, will die 
but not evolute. A horse and a donkey may be crossed. 
but can go no farther. You have a hybrid or mule and 
that is the limit. The mule ceases to propagate or evolute. 

"The Chinese nation has been on the earth thousands 
upon thousands of years — aye, millions. That nation has 
never evoluted into anything but the Chinese. When 
China is conquered by other nations, as it will be sooner or 
later, the Chinese will also die; but they will refuse to 
evolute. They will never become a white nation. Chinese 
they were and are and ever will be. That nations mix 
slightly, is admitted; but this does not continue. They 
die out as nations. 

"One may cross roses and flowers but the tendency is 
ever to return to that from which they sprung. I admit 
that climate and conditions favor certain species to the 
exclusion of others, but the germs are forever true to 
themselves and naturally gravitate, or are attracted to the 
country or climate favorable to their growth. 

"I can never, under any circumstances, be other than 



J 18 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Charles Darwin throughout eternity, and I am simply a 
developed soul-germ — the soul-germ of Charles Darwin 
developed up to my present condition. I shall never 
evolute into any but Charles Darwin; no more will the 
slightest thing that liveo, moves, or has being and life. 

''The Egyptian nation gradually disappeared — that is 
the greater part of them — but they did not evolve into any 
other nation. 

"Dogs have been dogs from remote antiquity, and they 
have never evolved into any other than dogs; and horses 
will never evolute into any other than horses. But you 
ask me: Did man evolute from the ape or gorilla? and I 
reply: The ape and gorilla made it possible for the soul- 
germs of mankind to at length be inhaled and developed 
as men upon earth; but, all nations did not have the same 
root, and the soul-germ of no man ever came from a 
monkey, ape or baboon. The highest possible ape or 
baboon was able to inhale and make use of a germ a shade 
higher than itself. In this sense evolution is true and, as 
you see, is but half a truth. The whole truth is involution 
and evolution. 

"My friends, the sensitive is new to me and I am not as 
well versed in thought photography as some others. I 
have said about all I can at present but hope to be able to 
say much more at another time. Sincerelv yours for 
Truth. CHARLES DARWIN." 



Mr. Darwin found it difficult to control longer, being 
his first attempt to make use of the powers of any 
sensitive, and I wish to add a few words. 

Mr. Darwin has told you that races of men, also differ- 
ent species of animals, do not run into each other, and 1 
will here state the reason why they do not. All nations 
are graded and exist as nations — distinct nations in the 
germinal state — in the soul-germinal state — and when a 
nation has reached the development which nature 
designed for it, it disappears, or dies out; and so on o( all 
species of animal, insect and reptile life — so of all vege- 
table and floral life. When I he earth has no further need 
i>\' horses they will cease to exist or die out, and so of all 
other animals; and. as the ages roll on, man himself will 
also disappear from the earth; but, all these things. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 149 

together with man, will be simply moved onward and 
upward into a higher state and condition. 

Man while developing within the material needs all that 
is developed within the material, and when he reaches 
the spiritual or celestial, he needs all that the earth has 
developed which he considers beneath himself and could 
no more get along without it, in the spirit world, than he 
can in the material world. 

My friends, let the solemn words of Darwin refrain 
again and again within your souls — repeat them to your- 
selves over and over again: Spirit nor Soul can ever be 
evoluted from Matter. Spirit is Spirit forever. Soul is 
Soul forever. Matter is matter forever. A thing cannot 
be evolved from that which does not possess it. 

When Spiritualists accept the idea that spirit and soul 
can be evolved from matter, they are accepting that which 
is far more ridiculous than the Christian's idea that some- 
thing can be created from nothing. But, there is a great 
verity at the bottom of the Christian's idea that God 
created the earth from chaos, and I hope to talk on this 
subject at another time. 

If the ancient languages could be perfectly interpreted 
and understood, the Christian and the Spiritualist would 
not be very far apart: "In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was God," and the Word created the earth 
and all thereon contained. 

Now, among the very ancient philosophers, the Word 
was synonymous with Spirit, and the three Gods, or the 
Godhead, meant Soul, Spirit, Matter — three principles 
combined in one. "And the Spirit of God moved on the 
face of the Deep." Now by this was really meant: And 
the Spirit and Soul descended into the Deep, and upon 
the face of the earth, and this created the living things 
within the sea and upon the earth. 

How true and sublime! Come, Christians, let us shake 
hands and be friends. FRANZ PETERSILEA. 



100 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-SEVEN. 



There are many who look upon Spiritualists as vision- 
ary and impracticable, and there may be those who are 
so; but here within the celestial world it is not so. Spirits 
and angels are as practical as possible and as busy as the 
busiest people of earth can be. 

As we said in our last letter, it is not man alone who is 
translated to this life, but all things by which on earth he 
is surrounded. Yes, dear friends, all things tend upward 
together with man; consequently on arriving here he feels 
very much at home. He may have his faithful dog or 
horse, together with other pet animals. He may have his 
house, his garden and his flowers. He may live in a city, 
village, town or in the country. He may sail on the water 
or visit forests, mountains, valleys, and glens. He may 
visit different races of men, also planets and constellations 
of worlds, and oftentimes he can hardly realize that he is 
not on the material plane of being. All the distinction 
he finds is, that all things now are spiritual, devoid of 
gross matter. "When we say gross matter we mean just 
what we say; for friends, this world is really material after 
all, for spirit here also clothes itself with sublimated mat- 
ter, and the earthly world is gross matter. The spiritual 
world is sublimated matter, and there is not any place 
throughout eternity that is devoid of matter, either in 
its gross or sublimated form. There is no place through- 
out eternity that is devoid of spirit. There is no spot 
throughout eternity that is devoid of soul. Spirit and 
n latter are but the hand-maidens of soul, and soul is God, 
the living and governing principle within all that exists or 
has life. 

We spoke in our last letter of the various races of men, 
and how race after race gradually disappeared entirely off 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 151 

the face of the globe; and we tried to show that races did 
not, after all, amalgamate. We do not say that there 
may not be a certain amount of amalgamation, but a few 
exceptions generally prove the rule. The Jews, even to 
this day, remain a distinct race. The native African, the 
same. There are many half-breeds, we admit, but as a 
rule they do not mix and multiply. The Chinese nation 
remains Chinese, as do all other Mongolians; so do the na- 
tions of India, and the American Indian. One nation 
* may subjugate another, but they rarely ever mix to any 
approachable degree; and it is precisely so in the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms. Now what we wish to show in 
this letter is, that it is the same here. Here are all the 
races and various tribes of men, and the lines are really 
drawn with more distinctness than on the earth, and the 
various races abide together by themselves, mingling very 
little with those not belonging to them; and their cities 
and towns are usually over and above the corresponding 
cities and towns of earth. More especially is this true of 
the spheres nearest earth. For instance, over and above 
the Chinese empire exist innumerable spiritual stratas, 
nearly all made up of the native Chinese. So of Africa. 
So of Egypt. So of India. So of the islands of the sea. 
So of Europe. So of America, both North and South. 
Now this is also true of the various cities and towns; more 
especially of the large cities of the world. 

One can readily see that this must necessarily be so. 
By this we do not mean that spirits and angels may not 
and do not go whenever and wherever they please; still, 
this general law holds good, and the natural law of attrac- 
tion and adaptability holds nations and tribes together. 
The Chinese are Chinese still. The Hindoos are Hindoos 
still. The African is African still, and so on and we are 
told, by those very far above us in wisdom, that this law 
holds good throughout eternity. An individual holds his 
individuality throughout eternity, so do nations and races 
of men. 

Now there is another point that we wish to touch upon, 
and that is, the pathway of the earth. Sometimes when 
men talk of spiritual spheres, and thoughts cannot be 
things, and so forth, else the universe could not hold 
them, one would suppose that the universe was cramped 
for room. The mind of man can scarcely conceive of the 
enormous distance the earth travels every day. Not only 



152 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

does she revolve entirely over every day but her pathway 
around the sun every year is almost inconceivable to the 
mind of man. It is quite appalling to think of the vast 
distance which lies between the earth and the sun, and 
more appalling still to think of the awful distance traveled 
by the earth in the oscillatory and circling pathway 
around the sun each year, carrying with her all her shin- 
ing spiritual spheres. 

Now the earth herself is but a small nucleus within her 
shining spheres, and together with her spheres is many, 
very many thousand times larger than her gross material 
bulk; and as she travels this enormous pathway, she 
leaves behind her each year tokens that she has been there. 
Her very outermost sublimated sphere is partly left be- 
hind her each year — all, in fact, that she cannot hold 
longer by her attractive force; and all these various forms 
of use and beauty are gradually filling immensity. 

But it is now more especially earth's pathway that we 
wish to speak of. If the reader will follow us we will say 
that the zodiac is bordered in all directions, millions upon 
millions of miles each way, by the spiritual emanations 
thrown off from the earth; and, here again, we find scenes 
upon scenes of heavenly beauty. These are of such tran- 
scendent and surpassing loveliness that they cannot be de- 
scribed to the children of earth. 

friends ! Man's idea of heaven is not meaningless. It 
is at first crude and not well understood, but time reme- 
dies that. There are many other thinggs in this connec- 
tion that we could speak of, such as, that the earth's path- 
way is never precisely the same, for the sun is traveling 
also, and carrying her children, the planets, with her. 
But the earthly mind can scarcely comprehend such stu- 
pendous facts, so we will desist. Still, of course, every 
schoolboy well understands that this is so, yet he does not 
understand about the spirit spheres and corresponding 
zones. The spheres are those which the earth carries with 
her; the zones, that which she leaves behind her in her zo- 
diacal pathway around the sun. Herein we speak only of 
the earth, saying nothing about the other planets, and 
when the mind has taken in all this enormous space, it is 
only thai which appertains to one comparatively small 
planet. This alone is enough to make the mind of man 
reel; but, aftet all. the mind that can grasp it has nlrpfinV 
become I '><> ^l rons f <> peel. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 153 

Of course, in the zodiacal zones there are no children or 
youths. All things have reached a highly perfected con- 
dition — and not a single spirit within those zones. All 
are angels — perfected wholes — yet the male and female 
still appear in two forms. 

Nothing here, whatever, is in an undeveloped or youth- 
ful condition. Not a sin or error of any kind exists — not 
a mistake is ever made. Every art has reached its very 
ultimate. No farther progress can be made either in arts 
or sciences. These may be called God-angels, for truth, 
love and wisdom have become perfected— that is, so far 
as an earthly mind can possibly understand. But these 
perfected souls still have eternity before them — still have 
countless worlds that they may visit. These souls radiate 
Wisdom, Love and Truth. The procreating powers of the 
male and female generate thoughts, which are things, and 
the generating of earthly children typifies the angelic gen- 
erating of perfected thoughts. As the earth rolls through 
these vast zones, the higher angels of the earthly spheres 
gather and appropriate them, then hand them down to the 
sphere below them, and so on, the higher always feeding 
the lower, until at last they strike the very lowest, or 
earthly spheres. The zodiacal angels scarcely ever visit 
the earth — sometimes at very rare intervals — then usually 
in large bands; and it is generally at some epoch or great 
crisis which the earth is passing through, too great for the 
spiritual spheres to manage. 

I have previously said that I have been within the ce- 
lestial life somewhat more than twenty years of your 
earthly time, and during this time I have not discovered 
any sphere higher than the ones above mentioned; but 
who can say what eternity has in store. To be sure I have 
visited the sun and many of the planets and I spoke of an- 
gels who had visited the great zone called the milky way; 
but, personally, I have not visited the milky way. It is 
something like this: A person on earth may never have 
visited a far-off foreign land, but he may have seen and 
conversed with those who had, and that is what I have 
done. They tell me that the astronomers of earth are 
right when they say that it is a vast zone of suns and 
countless worlds; neither have I ever visited one of the 
so-called fixed stars, which are also suns to other systems 
of worlds; neither do I yet make my home in the perfected 
zone just outside of the earth's orbit, bu1 I have visited h 



154 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

as one might visit a splendid city and yet not be able to 
make his home there. A boy can look at a man and think 
how wise, large and grand he is; yet the boy is not a man. 

And I wish just here to correct an error that exists in 
the minds of some Spiritualists, and it is this: They sup- 
pose that no spirit can ascend beyond the sphere or plane 
to which they naturally gravitate, but this is a mistake. 
A spirit may, and does, visit many spheres, both higher 
and lower than the one wherein he makes his home — the 
one for which he is best adapted. If spirits could not 
travel and leave the sphere in which they reside it would 
be impossible for them to visit earth or any sphere lower 
than their own. 

Oh, no; spirits can ascend and descend as, of course, the 
law of spirit communion absolutely proves; yet it is true 
that all angels make their homes in the celestial sphere 
which corresponds to their wisdom and love. For in- 
stance, an angel may be exceedingly wise or gifted in one 
or more directions and lacking in others and, consequent- 
ly, must make its home in a sphere not yet perfected in 
glory. The spirit or angel is yet a pupil, not what might 
be called a God-angel. The perfected or God-angel is as 
high as we can, at present, possibly conceive of. 

Helena and myself are not yet a God-angel — we are not 
yet even an arch-angel — we do not yet dwell outside of 
the earthly spheres, but we have, in traveling, ascended 
and descended and have rolled about with other planets, 
within the luminiferous ether, much to our joy and satis- 
faction. But, of course, dear friends, if we were fitted to 
dwell in the very highest spheres, we could not be here 
now controlling a sensitive to write for us to the dear ones 
who will read this. 

Perhaps some of you would like to know to what sphere 
we do belong. Well, I would like to say that we never 
have dwelt or belonged to the first or lowest sphere. When 
I entered the spirit world I at first naturally gravitated to 
the third sphere. That being about the position T occu- 
pied on earth. When I left the body, I was not a low, im- 
moral or degraded man, but somewhat talented in mam 
respects and had also acquired considerable wisdom; still, 
not enough to take me at first beyond the third sphere, 
and I am at present dwelling within, what might be con- 
sidered the fourth degree or sphere; yet, I can visit any 
sphere I please, as those in other spheres can visit this or 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 155 

any sphere above or below it. If we could not travel, and 
thereby acquire wisdom, to have thrown aside the body 
would not count for much. 

0, yes, we can earnestly desire the presence of any great 
mind and telepathy is so well understood here that the 
angel whom we wish for earnestly will come to us, and this 
is a great joy and satisfaction. Without it, as one can 
readily see, progress would be impossible. And here let 
me say that there are but seven distinct spheres revolving 
with your earth, your earth making the eighth. But 
there are very many intermediate spheres, and I would 
like also to state that Mrs. Mary T. Longley is quite right 
when she says that there are no children in the first 
sphere above or around the earth. Children are too pure 
and innocent to dwell in the first sphere, and those within 
the first sphere could not and would not teach them any 
good thing. 

In the first sphere there is little else than vice, degrada- 
tion and impurity; but the higher angels must constantly 
visit this sphere in order to teach the spirits in prison, or 
the ignorant, vile and degraded. In this sphere also are 
found the very lowest forms of animal life — sharks, ser- 
pents, alligators, lizards, toads, exceedingly wild beasts of 
prey, buzzards and many other horrible monsters that are 
now extinct on the earth; but as one ascends into the next 
sphere, one finds cats, dogs, horses, singing birds, and all 
manner of pet animals. Rats and mice are found in the 
first sphere, together with swine; still, in the second 
sphere swine are occasionally found, together with negro 
life. If one would take the trouble to read Mary Ann Ca- 
rew, it would be seen that good old Ponto, a negro slave, 
took great delight in gathering about him farm or planta- 
tion stock, such as he had been accustomed to in earth life, 
and he would have been very unhappy in any other condi- 
tion; and, in fact, old Ponto was too good to gravitate to 
the first sphere. He might not have been very wise, but 
he was exceedingly forgiving, devotedly affectionate and 
good. There are not many Indians in the first sphere. 
They, also, have too much native wisdom and goodness. 
In fact, Indians may be found in all the spheres, but in 
the second sphere they have their ponies and their dogs, 
and they actually go hunting the buffalo. It is wild sport 
and joy to them. They are not able, of course, to kill the 
buffalo, but ponies, dogs and the buffalo all seem to enjoy 



1 56 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the sport hugely, together with the Indians. The Indians 
could not progress or be happy, unless there were corre- 
spondences like these in the happy hunting grounds — 
otherwise the spirit spheres. There comes a time when 
they get beyond all this, but it is a long time. 

You may ask me now, how it is with vicious and de- 
graded mothers who may be in the first sphere ? Are they 
not allowed to be with their children? 

A mother so vile and degraded that she is in the first 
sphere, has become lost to all parental feeling. A mother 
who is capable of loving and teaching her child does not 
gravitate to the first sphere. There are not as many wo- 
men in the first sphere as there are men and youths; but 
youths do not remain in the first sphere long, for the 
higher spirits and angels seize upon these budding, grow- 
ings minds and instill wisdom and good principles within 
them and they are soon taken out of the first sphere and 
placed in schools where they can come in contact with 
nothing but good. 

Oh, we have work to do here. None may be idle, not 
one. And none are. The second sphere is absolutely 
filled with schools and children. They are met with in 
all places and everywhere. Yet children and schools are 
found in all the spheres, even to the seventh, for many ex- 
ceedingly wise angels, who naturally gravitate to the sev- 
enth sphere, draw the children of their love to themselves; 
yet the children in the sixth and seventh spheres are com- 
paratively few, for not many parents who have little chil- 
dren are wise enough to gravitate to these spheres them- 
selves; still, there are some; but, in the zodiacal zone there 
are none whatever. 

Few spirits remain very long within the first sphere, for 
they are constantly being snatched as brands from the 
burning and as constantly being replaced by others who 
are always arriving from earth; here we find the drunk- 
ard, the opium-eater, the libertine, the gross, the exceed- 
ingly selfish, the murderer, the rapist, the robber, the se- 
ducer, the degraded and vicious youth, the cruel and the 
heartless; and, oftener than otherwise, the men and wo- 
men who have been exceedingly rich on earth; especially if 
their wealth has been obtained at the expense of their 
brother man, and when it has rendered them selfish, im- 
feeling and dishonest in all tilings; the miser, the procur- 
tnd the brothel-keeper — llicse oftener than their sic- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 1 57 

tims. Sufferers and victims, from any cause or of any 
kind, are not often in the first sphere. The unprogressed 
and lowest tribes of mankind are also in the first sphere. 

And now you might like to know about the scenery of 
this lower sphere. It is not much removed from the 
scenery of earth, for here all that is hideous and squalid 
halts for a while until it can gather a little order and 
beauty, for order and beauty gravitate to the second 
sphere, together with the souls that are fitted for that 
sphere. The following is what usually remains in the 
first sphere for a while: Jungles, thickets, and all disor- 
derly things; barren plains and deserts; bare and jagged 
mountains, muddy, turbulent streams, and, if you can be- 
lieve me, for I am telling the truth, old monasteries, to- 
gether with their monks and priests, those who cannot and 
will not listen to reason or let the light of truth penetrate 
their souls. 

You will find more convents and monasteries in the first 
sphere than on the earth, and it is more difficult to gain 
or enlighten those, who persist in inhabiting them, than 
any others. Here in the first sphere are the coarsest of 
weeds and wild flowers, the odor of which is very obnox- 
ious, coarse, unsightly grasses, cactus, nrairie dogs and 
rattlesnakes. 

Let me tell you, my friends, that the drunkard who has 
delirium tremens, actually sees the spirits of reptiles and 
snakes. It is not his imagination, but the intoxicant, in 
a measure, sets his spirit free and he beholds that which 
actually exists. 

A soul perceives that which is in correspondence with 
itself. An orderly and beautiful soul gravitates to an or- 
derly and beautiful sphere — a low and degraded one to 
the lowest sphere and even then must find that which cor- 
responds to it. 

And now, friends, allow me to tell you that a low, de- 
graded spirit takes on a form which corresponds to itself. 
In the story, published in The Progressive Thinker, en- 
titled Juno, inspired by Charles Dickens, the great truth 
is well shown up. All manner of horrors are perpetrated 
within the first sphere. Life, of course, cannot be taken, 
but think for a moment of all the dreadful things and 
awful souls that leave your earth. How can one expect 
it to be otherwise? These spirits generate filth, rags and 
squalor. Their habitations correspond to themselves if 



158 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

they have any. Many have none at all, not having con- 
structiveness enough to even build a spiritual shanty, and 
no one loves them enough to construct one for them. 
They are, as yet, too vile to enter the habitation of a good 
or wise spirit; yet, gradually, all are raised one by one. 
None are so low that time does not retrieve them. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-EIGHT. 



We return to earth at a stated time to dictate these let- 
ters, two evenings in a week, commencing precisely at 
seven o'clock. This is well understood both by ourselves 
and the sensitive. If this were not the case very little 
could be accomplished. 

There are those who seem to think that spirits have no 
other employment than to stand by the side of an earthly 
medium at all times and seasons, ever ready to answer the 
most foolish and trivial questions. If there are spirits 
who spend their time in this way we are not of them. 
Any spirit who would do this could not possibly make any 
progress whatever within the celestial life and consequent- 
ly could teach nothing of importance. We do not spend 
over four hours in a week for the purpose of giving that 
which we have found to be true to the earthly sphere. 
About one-half of the remaining time we spend in obtain- 
ing knowledge for ourselves, and the other half in teach- 
ing and aiding the spirits who are below us in wisdom; 
for be it ever borne in mind that our wives are always with 
us and they have as much to do with these letters as the 
personalities whose names are signed. The language of 
earth does not always permit us to make this clear and 
we must often use the personal pronoun, which is mis- 
leading. 

Now when we put ourselves en rapport with the one 
who writes for us, we often find within the mind some- 
thing which antagonizes the truth. Oftener than other- 
wise some article has been read that does not agree with 
that which we have already told the medium or written to 



LETTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 159 

the world at large, and we find it to be the case this even- 
ing. The article which has been read is from the pen 
of an eminent medium, relative to the homes within the 
spiritual realm. 

That medium says to the effect that a spirit who might 
greatly desire a home in spirit life must be earth-bound. 

According to this medium a wise and progressed spirit 
does not desire or need a home, as it does not meet with 
heat, or cold, or rain or snow; also, that a soul very far on 
toward wisdom does not need clothing, and as the medium 
who said, or wrote this, is considered to be exceedingly 
wise, my poor medium recoils like one of those sensitive 
plants that folds its leaves at the touch of a finger. 

My medium, personally, would not dare to write any- 
thing in contradistinction to this eminent lady medium, 
for it was spoken or written by a lady, but of course we 
being already within the realm of the spiritual do not feel 
so, for we write only of that which we know. 

We have said in a former letter that we had visited all 
the spheres, even to the great zone, outside of the earth's 
orbit, which is true, and the only sphere that we have 
found where there are those who are homeless is the first 
sphere above the earth. Here, there are some so low in 
the scale of being that they are without homes, and wan- 
der about like tramps and vagabonds of earth. The only 
souls that go unclothed are those who are so low in the 
scale of being that the emanations of the mind are not 
sufficient to wrap them about, and none love, or are at- 
tracted to them, enough to do it for them, and these are 
few, very few indeed. Even the tiniest infants are appro- 
priately clothed by those who love, or those who care for 
them. 

Dear friends, your earth is a type of the celestial life, 
and you are safe in believing that as it is with you of 
earth, so it is with the celestial world on a grander, higher 
scale. That we are not clothed in the same manner that 
those of earth are is true. Our women and girls do not 
wear corsets, they do not wear tight, pointed shoes, they 
do not wear enormous hats covered with tall ostrich 
plumes, they do not bang their hair nor roll it over enor- 
mous rats — rats is the word used, we think, for the large 
rolls, or cushions, over which the hair is combed. Our 
ladies do not wear dresses low in the neck, with short 
sleeves, for no lady here desires to attract the gaze of any 



1G0 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

man except her husband or other self, and modesty before 
him enwraps her about like a garment of violets. She is 
like a sweet, modest violet, or like a regal rose, or like a 
fair, sweet lily; her clothing corresponds to her soul, for it 
emanates from her soul and wraps her about like a gar- 
ment of light. 

We have never yet met a soul unclothed except in the 
lowest sphere. The higher and more exalted the angel 
the more beautiful their clothing, for it is from the emana- 
tions of their love, truth and wisdom that they are 
clothed. Well, you ask, what is their general appearance, 
or rather, how are the women in the celestial world 
clothed? 

Their garments are soft and flowing, floating about 
them in exquisite grace, and we have never yet seen two 
of the same color; the style and color correspond to the 
soul, and as no two souls are alike, so no two garments are 
exactly alike, yet all are flowing. 

How do they wear their hair? This is an all-important 
question with many women of earth. I will tell you, my 
pretty girls. 

The angels wear their hair as nature intended all wo- 
men should, flowing about their shoulders in beauty. 
There are those who braid it slightly and tie a ribbon 
about it, but such have not been long in spirit life and still 
retain some of the earthly habits. We are well aware 
when spiritual beings present themselves before the clair- 
voyant sight of mediums, they appear clothed as they 
were wont to be clothed on earth; but they merely assume 
the garb that they may be recognized, and throw it off im- 
mediately thereafter. 

We shall not speak of many of the miserable, misguided 
creatures of the lower sphere or of the earthly sphere, for 
we do not like to allow the mind to dwell on impure sub- 
jects. 

Do the angels wear shoes? They wear something that 
corresponds to soft sandals, which is usually of a rose 
color, and soft bands of rose-colored ribbons that confine 
them to the feet; yet this is not invariably the rule. 
Sometimes a soul is so engrossed, or enwrapped about, 
that nothing is visible but a figure of light, and when 
startled a beautiful angeiic face peeps forth at the behold- 
ing intruder, 

The garments of those who dwell in the grand zone are 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 161 

so dazzling in splendor that a man of earth could not 
behold them and yet remain within the fleshly form. 

And now about the homes in spirit life. To be with- 
out a home is to be a spiritual vagabond, and these are 
only in the lowest sphere. 

Well, won't you tell us about these homes? Yes, we 
will tell you, and tell you the truth, but we forgot to tell 
you how the men are clothed. We will do this first and 
afterward describe the homes. 

The clothing of the men differs but little from that of 
the women. Their garments also flow about them, but 
more in a belted style, not as long or flowing as those of 
the women, of grayer hue, usually not quite as beautiful. 
They do not cut their hair or beard, but wear it as na- 
ture intended, full and flowing. No two are exactly alike, 
for all things and creatures in nature differ. 

Now we have said and reiterated again and again that 
all souls are united in oneness to their eternal counter- 
parts, and we are telling you of the greatest and grandest 
truths in nature. It seems strange to us that the people 
of earth are so loth to accept such a great and eternal 
verity. 

"Oh!" we hear someone say, "that might smack of free 
love or affinity/' but none are ever united to their soul- 
mates until they are above and beyond all such foolish 
thoughts. 

Does an eternal counterpart, soul-mate, or other-self — 
the actual other half of that which is only a half, not a 
whole — smack of free love? Then all the angels in the 
celestial world are free-lovers, for there is not one that is 
incomplete or without the other half of itself. If that 
were the case it would simply be an undeveloped spirit 
yet seeking the other half of itself . 

Now in the present state qjr the earthly world marriage, 
if possible, should be kept inviolate, and all those who 
are reasonably happy in each other should remain to- 
gether. Soul-mating is not so much for earth as it is for 
heaven and people on earth do not, as yet, understand 
the law. They marry when quite ignorant and youthful 
— they marry after the flesh and beget children after the 
flesh, but they pass on and leave their fleshly bodies be- 
hind — they are no more of the flesh but of the spirit — and 
now commences a higher and better education; but, thou- 
sands on earth are. through natural attraction, really, al- 



L62 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

though ignorantly, united to their own true other self. 
These will always remain together as one, for they are 
one; I) ut thousands more are not, and these will be re- 
leased on leaving the body, to be properly united to the 
true counterpart. If by free love is meant promiscuity, 
nothing can be more abhorrent to a pure angel. Any- 
thing of the kind would be utterly impossible in the an- 
gelic world, and it is that nature abhors this horror that 
the great law of eternal counterparts exists. Promiscuity 
exists only in the lowest sphere and on the earth; but it 
seems to us here that free-love is a misnomer. All men 
and angels should love one another, and all angels do. 
Wisdom, love and truth may be called God, for want of a 
better name — but we are coming to the homes, presently. 

Now when the male and female here are rightly con- 
joined together their first thought is to create a home for 
themselves, a home wherein they can abide, a home 
therein they can receive other angels, a home wherein 
•hey can retire from the gaze of innumerable hosts, a 
home wherein they may rest and recuperate, a home 
wherein they may cultivate the beautiful; they want a 
home precisely as men of earth do, but on a higher, 
grander scale. Homes of earth are types of heavenly 
homes — small types. The sparkling light and glare of 
the celestial heavens is often as wearisome to an angel as 
the outdoors of mankind, and the light and glory are 
veiled by homes, as on earth. We need homes on all ac- 
counts and could not, and do not, exist without them. 

The medium before mentioned says that we have 
neither cold, heat, nor storms of any kind. Now we beg 
to differ, for we are here and know about it. That we do 
not have the coarser earthly storm, we admit; that the 
elements do not war so violently as on earth, we also ad- 
mit; but it is not one eternal, everlasting day of intense 
light here, no more than there. We have a soft dew and 
many light clouds; we also have gentle rain, and some- 
times there is quite a breeze, for we have a spiritual at- 
mosphere. Of course it is very refined and rare, but it is 
as real to us as the earth's atmosphere is to earth. We 
also have heat and cold. In fact, heat and cold do not 
really originate on earth at all; then why suppose that we 
are not to a certain degree, subject to them both? But 
such i- i lie case, whether accepted by man or not, he will 
soon find it out when he gets here. Moreover, we must 



LETTEES FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 163 

have homes wherein to educate and care for children, 
youths and maidens. They are coming here at all times 
and seasons. 

Now we find in the mind of the medium something 
else that requires an answer. Another writer goes on to 
tell how a spirit lady takes the spirit of a dying child into 
her bosom and smiles into its eyes, and one would be led 
to suppose from what was written that she held the child 
in her bosom until it was grown. Don't you think she 
would get a little weary and want to lay the child down 
occasionally? But whether she would weary of it or not 
the child would soon become restless and want a change 
and we don't think the lady could lay it down on ambient 
ether any more than she could on the ambient air of 
earth. 

Oh, no, friends; that lady and that child must have a 
home just as you of earth have homes, and that child must 
be educated and taught just as children of earth are edu- 
cated and taught; it must be carried to the home of that 
lady — if very small it must be laid on a couch and cared 
for almost exactly as infants of earth are cared for — its 
mind must grow gradually as the minds of earthly chil- 
dren do; it must be surrounded by objects; it must, after 
awhile, have its playthings — its little pet animals. Chil- 
dren here are surrounded by little pet animals, singing 
birds, flowers — and bo}^s and girls have their dogs and 
ponies — they also have play-houses and boats, and a thou- 
sand and one things similar to earth. That which is not 
good for them is invariably left out. 

How else do you think we could possibly get along and 
teach the millions and millions of babes and little chil- 
dren that are coming here all the time? They cannot 
reach the altitude of abstruse philosophy or great scien- 
tific attainments for many, many years after coming here; 
yet in our schools we teach both philosophy and science, 
moreover we can't have our schools and classes all out in 
the ambient ether without any objects whatever where- 
with to teach them. 

We must have halls, temples and beautiful public 
buildings of all kinds, just as you do on earth, only higher 
up the scale, refined and spiritualized; and sometime we 
shall describe many of these homes and halls, temples and 
elegant structures. We have already done so in the two 
books — Marv Ann Carew and The Discovered Country — 



164 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

but we intend also to do something of the kind in these 
letters. It is precisely what the world most needs at the 
present time — a correct understanding of the things 
which are spiritual. The young do not, as yet, under- 
stand these things. They look upon the spirit world — if 
they think of one at all — as a kind of not understandable 
nothingness, made up of ambient ether and floating an- 
gels, neither men nor women. One young lady told the 
medium that she thought the spirit world was like the 
Fourth of July — minus the fire-crackers — great crowds of 
people or rather, angels, just floating aimlessly about with 
nothing to do except to sing and shake hands and be glad 
to see each other. 

Oh, friends, this is almost as bad as the orthodox 
heaven and hell. They, at least, have a little something 
more tangible. And now allow us to say right here, that 
the spiritual world, together with all its spheres, is a vasl 
deal more tangible than the coarser earth. What do you 
of earth have in your hand when the spirit has left? 
Crumble a dried leaf and see. Simply ashes. Cremate 
the body of a man and what have you? Ashes. The 
real, the substantial, the enduring has left and gone up 
higher. The ashes are left behind; the real and tangible 
has arisen; the form has gone up, the color has gone up, 
the ego, spirit and soul have gone up, all that was real and 
tangible has departed and finds a spiritual world contain- 
ing all the living entities that he had known on earth, or 
those like them, that had preceded him. 

Dr. Babbitt says that the first spiritual sphere is about 
fifty miles above the earth, extending each side of the 
equator about sixty degrees. This is as true as truth can 
be. We had told our medium the same thing long before 
this had been read by the medium, and was read in the 
Encyclopedia of Death, and Life in the Spirit World with 
a start of joyful surprise that the same thing had been 
told to others or another as well, it being the first time the 
medium had ever read it in any book or paper. But we 
had said this years ago, for it is the truth. 

Now, if your astronomers can see, with the aid of the 
telescope, nebulae, millions of miles from the earthly 
sphere, why should it not be accepted that we here in the 
celestial life have fleecy clouds and gentle rain? exceed- 
ingly rarefied to be sure, to suit the rare condition of our 
ethereal atmosphere. Our atmosphere is. after all, some- 



LETTERS FEOM THE SPIEIT WORLD. 165 

thing more than ether — it is ethereal but more dense, or 
different from the fundamental ether. What we are now 
saying, of course, pertains to the spiritual spheres around 
the earth which go with it in its revolutions, held to it by 
the law of attraction. Now if there were nothing but 
ether to attract, there would be no spiritual spheres at all, 
as anyone can readily see, for ether extends through all 
space and holds no more attraction for one globe or planet 
than for another, consequently there would be nothing to 
be attracted. The spiritual spheres must consist of some- 
thing tangible or the earth could not hold them around it. 
There must be, as there is, tangible matter that can be at- 
tracted and held by the great law of attraction. The 
merest schoolboy can well understand this, and when all 
the world comprehends that all space whatsoever is filled 
Ijy matter, spirit, and germinal points, and that all space 
whatsoever is ether, that there is no such things as void 
or nothing, then this which we have told them will be 
clearly understood. You must in earth life either give up 
the idea of spiritual spheres, or admit that they are com- 
posed of sublimated or attenuated matter, which is never- 
theless solid enough to attract and be attracted, else spirits 
must simply roam through ether, intangible and conse- 
quently without form — roam without aim or object forev- 
ermore. But natural law never works by or through this 
method. Natural law is forever striving to bring forth 
forms of beauty, intelligence and use, and the higher the 
spheres the more pronounced and unmistakable is this 
law. 

When matter becomes too ethereal to be attracted by 
the earth, it is thrown off into the great zone of the earth's 
orbit, that we spoke of in our last letter. 

We do not intend to write anything but that if one will 
stop to consider, it will be seen at once that it must be so 
in the very nature of its being at all. But we have prom- 
ised to describe some of our homes, temples, halls, and 
palaces of learning, which we will proceed to do in our 
forthcoming letter. 



1GG LETTERS EROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-NINE. 



We will not try to describe anything outside of the 
sphere in which we now reside, for fear that it might be 
inaccurate, as we have not yet wisdom enough to thor- 
oughly understand all that we have seen that is above us. 

Sluch of our architecture is like the old Grecian style, 
yet we have every kind that can be conceived by the soul 
of man; but the one we are now about to describe is some- 
what like the Grecian style, yet not altogether: A long, 
wide building, square, like many buildings of earth, sus- 
tained throughout by great arches and massive pillars, 
crowned by an immense circular dome. The facade is 
very grand and beautiful, the roof here being supported 
by twenty-four majestic pillars, a large arched entrance in 
the centre, and a somewhat smaller one on either side of 
the central one; these are also arched. There are twenty- 
four large windows on each side of the building, but none 
at the back; there are three steps extending the entire 
length of the front, leading on to a very wide porch which 
also extends the entire length of the frontage. You are 
now looking with me on the exterior of the edifice, and 
you will observe that there are in all, forty-eight windows 
and twenty-four pillars; three arches, three steps and an 
immense central dome. From the center of the dome we 
observe a flag-staff, and waving gracefully from it is a 
large flag. The dome being circular and the body of the 
building square, there is quite a space at each corner of 
the roof, and each corner is filled by a group of statuary. 
In the center of each side of the roof, stands an immense 
statue, making, of course, four in all. * This, as you will 
perceive, is a general outline of the building, and every- 
thing within and without bears a deep significant mean- 
ing. Now. together with us, study this structure, that we 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIEIT WORLD. 1G7 

may discover the story it is designed to tell. The flag 
appears somewhat as a large, white, satin flag of earth, and 
the letters upon it are shining and golden; the flag-staff: is 
also of shining gold, that is to say, it appears like that; 
the words upon the flag are, "Temple of Wisdom." 

Now, of course, the temple we are showing yon is but 
one. There are millions of others, even in this sphere. 

The dome appears like shining gold, the statues and 
groups of statuary are almost lifelike in their appearance. 
The one directly in front is a majestic male figure, appar- 
ently crowned with the sun, which appears to shoot forth 
rays of scintillating light that are almost blinding in their 
beauty. In one extended hand a large volume appears, 
the index finger of the other is pointing upward and the 
meaning is: Man, know thyself and all that about you 
lies; also, study that which is above thee. 

As we face the building, on the left side, which is at the 
right of the statue, is a beautiful female form — exquisitely 
beautiful in all its proportions. She is crowned with 
flowers and on one extended finger is perched a dove bear- 
ing an olive branch, with the other she is pointing down- 
ward—her eyes are also modestly cast downward toward 
the earth. The meaning is: The woman represents love, 
the dove peace, hope, and progress to all below. The 
statue at the back of the edifice is that of a male crowned 
with thorns, in fact, almost an exact representation of 
Christ on the cross. The meaning is: Error shall be 
crucified or conquered. The remaining figure at the side, 
is that of a female crowned with pale stars and pointing 
toward the horizon. The meaning is: The morning breaks. 

On each corner of the roof is a group of statuary — a 
family group of the four distinct races of men on the 
earth — the white, the black, the red and the copper- 
colored; the father, mother, and two children of each. 
The Indian stands aiming with bow and arrow, while his 
squaw sits working at a beaded moccasin; the little maiden 
leaning upon the shoulder of her mother, whilst the boy 
eagerly and intently watches the point of the arrow. 
The black man is kneeling in chains, whilst a huge blood- 
hound has seized the terrified wife. The little boy and 
girl cling to each other with starting eyeballs. The cop- 
per-colored man kneels before a huge idol, fashioned by 
his own skillful hands, while his wife weaves straws and 
rushes into beautiful designs. The little girl is painting 



168 LETTEKS I- ROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

china cups and glasses; the boy is laden with cakes and 
fruit, which he is presenting to the idol — and, lastly, the 
white group-. The white man stands with an open book 
in his hand, the index finger of the other hand marking a 
passage or line, but his eyes are turned upward. His 
brow is noble, his head massive, his limbs strong, well 
proportioned and supple. His beautiful wife caresses the 
golden curls of a fair boy; the little girl watches with 
large, sweet brown eyes, a singing canary perched upon 
her extended finger. The meaning conveyed by each 
group is easily deciphered. The black man still wears the 
chains of ignorance and superstition, and, on account of 
this his wife is hunted by the emissaries of those who de- 
sire her subordination, and her children are also appro- 
priated. The red man sends an arrow into the heart of 
his enemy in order to protect his wife and children as well 
as his own freedom and his hunting grounds. 

The copper-colored man is so creative and industrious 
that he actually turns and worships the art created by his 
own handicraft; and his wife works out her beautiful and 
dainty fancies with rushes and straw, being filled with do- 
mestic virtues. The white man seeks to perpetuate his 
wisdom in books and legends, and still his eyes seek the 
realms of space for more. His wife desires that her boy 
shall be like his father, or, greater still, while the girl 
wishes to be like a beautiful soaring, singing bird, with 
swift wing cleaving the unknown. 

The dome, which is a half sphere resting upon a square, 
signifies that w T herever this form is found wisdom is not 
complete or perfect, but is striving toward it. The flag- 
staff reaching upward toward heaven signifies that wis- 
dom descends from above as lightning from the clouds. 
The dome being golden — gold is less precious than dia- 
monds, yet very precious. 

The body of this temple appears like veined marble, the 
windows of stained glass of every existing color. If the 
marble was without veining it would signify firm, unal- 
loyed wisdom, white and shining; but in the sphere where 
the veining appears it is somewhat adulterated by error — 
n <>i vcl perfect. The stained windows, in all their various 
colors, indicate that each soul as yet perceives the same 
thing in a little different light. 

The twenty-four pillars are of polished granite, indi- 
cating that wisdom is strong, enduring and beautiful, and 






LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 169 

that which upholds the universe together with all con- 
tained therein being twenty-four in number, indicates 
that there are twenty-four primary elements of wisdom 
underlying all things in nature — and the forty-eight win- 
dows, that these primary elements can be combined to 
bring forth forty-eight different results — we mean chem- 
ically combined. 

The three steps leading into the temple signify body, 
spirit and soul germs; the three arches have their names 
written over them — upon their key-stones — the central 
one, Wisdom; the one at the right, Love; the one at the 
left, Truth. Matter, Spirit and Soul lead upward to Wis- 
dom, Love and Truth. When these are once attained, 
happiness or heaven, is the result. 

The reader will see at once that this temple is exceed- 
ingly large. The interior is supported by pillars and 
arches. There are twenty-four arches on either side, sup- 
ported by forty-eight pillars, making forty-eight arches 
and ninety-six pillars. At the far end, opposite the en- 
trance, is a raised platform or dais, and a pulpit or desk 
on which rests an exceedingly large book, together with a 
number of smaller books. There are very many beautiful 
chairs upon the platform, and a great scenic painting on 
the wall at the back. 

The immense dome is filled by what might be called an 
electric clock, as nearly all these temples dedicated to wis- 
dom and the arts and sciences are. The great clock rep- 
resents some particular system of worlds, oftener the sys- 
tem belonging to your own sun, for within the spheres of 
earth the spirits and angels desire to teach of the system 
of worlds to which they belonged, before branching into 
others that they do not know so much about — and this 
dome is filled by representations of your own sun's sys- 
tem of worlds. 

When I first came to spirit life these vast electric clocks 
interested me more than I can express. 

There are the two bodies of the sun; the moon; your 
earth; all the various planets, together with their moons; 
and all in motion — worked by electricity — precisely as 
they roll in space in their various orbits. 

Oh, it is most astonishing and wonderful! By this 
clock the science of astronomy is taught by the various 
professors of astronomy, many whose names are well 
known to earth. 



170 LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



About one-half of the floor, beneath the dome and in 
front of the platform, is filled by rows of seats for listen- 
ers, visitors and students. The spaces nearer the win- 
dows, inside the vast arches, are given up to various 
branches of science, chemistry and so forth, and on the 
key-stone of each arch is written the name of the particu- 
lar branch within that particular arch, and within these 
arches are all the different instruments and paraphernalia 
needed for demonstration, and within each arch an emi- 
nent Professor presides. 

The great painting at the back of the Temple, filling 
the entire wall at that end, represents the four great na- 
tions of earth, together with the country of each, its dif- 
ferent animals, flowers and trees, and many other details 
too numerous to mention. This great Temple is free to 
all, and everyone who cares to visit it. It was erected by a 
large band of wise angels, wherein to instruct all who de- 
sire wisdom; and all angels who do not inculcate error, 
can give instruction here if they choose; but, first, they 
must pass an examination, conducted by a large concourse 
of very wise angels, in order that false teaching and er- 
roneous opinions may not creep in. Helena and myself 
belong to this Temple and often teach within its revered 
precincts. We visit it nearly every day in order to in- 
struct and be instructed. 

This Temple appears precisely as we have described it; 
but, of course, it must be borne in mind that this is not a 
material temple, built with heavy, cumbersome marble, 
and so forth, such as it represents; but is a spiritual tem- 
ple, not made by hands, but by the constructive faculties, 
or minds, of the angels working with spiritualized matter 
or substance — their thoughts are tangible things, and take 
on tangible clothing, and are arranged by the will power 
of each, intently fixed on the one purpose — and it is pre- 
cisely so in earth life. A company of men in earth life 
build a church or college, all agreeing in mind just whal 
they desire, and then it is clothed with material substance, 
such as wood, granite or marble, and these are but small 
types of the greater, grander colleges and temples of wis- 
dom within the spheres. 

Do noi say dial whal we have herein related is a work of 
i lie imagination until yon understand the full meaning of 
i he word imagination. A man, or company of men, must 



firs! 



linage or 



a house, hall or church, on eartJ 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 171 

before it can be clothed with material substance, and it is 
precisely the same here. We must first image or imagine 
what we want and then clothe it with spiritual substance. 
Yours are real and tangible to you, there. Ours are real 
and tangible to us, here. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY. 



In our last letter we described a Temple of Wisdom 
within the celestial spheres. The temple which we de- 
scribed is in the fourth sphere, and there are temples, 
halls, and schools without number; yet no two are alike; 
still, a similitude runs through them all. They are of all 
grades and sizes, from the merest infant kindergarten to 
the most lofty and sublime. There are also grand con- 
servatories of music, there are lofty edifices in which ar- 
chitectural designing is taught; there are thousands of 
thousands of chemical laboratories; there are brilliant 
buildings for the inventive faculties to grow and expand, 
especially those appertaining to electrical appliances, to- 
gether with the study and uses of electricity — and, let us 
here say, that the knowledge of the electrical power, on 
earth, is yet in its infancy. We would like, also, to state 
how it will be on your earth a century or more from the 
present time. 

All steam and horse power will be entirely obsolete. 
Electricity will supersede all other motive power, what- 
ever. No other kind of light will be used. New inven- 
tions will rapidly appear for the generation of heat as well 
as light, and all heating and cooking will be accomplished 
by its aid. Another element will be joined to the elec- 
trical, which will give a pure white heat, that will melt 
rock and iron, and ail smelting will be done with it. The 
day is not far distant when great palaces will be erected, 
built from vast blocks of crystal, in all the beautiful 
shades and colors found in prismatic states. Many of 
these buildings will be patterned after the brilliantly- 
stained glass, now only used in windows, but as soon as 



i . .' LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the great white heat is discovered, sand will be more pre- 
cious than gold, and will be used for thousands of pur- 
poses never thought of before — it will be smelted into 
glass, most elegantly colored, and pressed into great thick 
slabs and tiles; also beautiful pillars, domes, and ara- 
besques. Great glass manufactories will line the sea- 
shores, ocean beaches and inland, wherever sand may be 
found. Houses will be built entirely of glass, requiring 
no inside work except doors, and these also will be made of 
pressed glass, after the most beautiful patterns. The 
glass for building will not be transparent but opaque, yet 
light will be seen glittering through all the lovely color- 
ing. Sidewalks and flaggings will be laid in ground glass. 

Now, how do we know all this? Because it already ex- 
ists, as a great scientific truth, here in the spheres, as soon 
as possible, to be given to earth. We withhold nothing 
from earth that the people are capable of receiving. The 
waters of the ocean, and the air, will be made to generate 
as much heat and electricity as your whole world will need 
for all purposes to which it may be put — even your cars 
and vehicles will be made of glass. There will shortly 
come a time which might be properly called the "Glass 
Age/' There has been a "Stone Age," an "Iron Age," 
and so forth, and one might say there had been, or is, a 
"Wooden Age" and "Brick Age" — although wood, brick, 
and stone, have been used in nearly every age — but there 
never yet has been, on earth, a glass age. That will soon 
appear. Nothing now seems so utterly worthless and bar- 
ren as a great sand desert, but when the glass age comes, 
nothing will be more precious or useful; in fact, together 
with electricity and white heat, it will make a new and 
most brilliant age and, really, little else will be needed ex- 
cept food and clothing; but there will also be new inven- 
tions to supply these wants. There will come a time 
when woven cloth will be out of date and clothing will all 
be made from pressed material, much of it brilliant and 
shining in the extreme. Sea-weed and kelp will be used 
extensively in its manufacture, yet a great many other 
things besides. 

Washing and laundry business will be entirely done 
away with. Exceedingly soft, warm, pliable material will 
be pressed into suitable underclothing that will not cost 
;is much as the washing of a garment does now, and when 
soiled, can be burned instead of being washed. All man- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 173 

ner of ordinary, as well as beautiful and brilliant dresses, 
cloaks, and so forth, will also be manufactured. The 
present fashions will have changed, and the attire of men 
less irksome and more suitable and durable. 

But the ladies — bless their souls — they will revel in 
beauty to their heart's content. The most beautiful flow- 
ers will be made of thin flexible glass — for a method will 
be discovered whereby glass can be made as flexible and 
soft as any velvet or silk — and these flowers will be colored 
to imitate the natural ones which they will fairly rival, 
and subtile odors will be introduced that will be enduring. 
And now about food. 

The diet of mankind will also change, and flesh will be 
eaten no more, neither of beast, fish nor fowl. That age 
will entirely pass away, and the glass age will rapidly 
hasten its decline. When all motive power is electrical, as 
it then will be, vast fields can be easily and rapidly culti- 
vated. Men will sit in glass cabooses, or little cabins, 
when working their electrical machines, which will plow, 
harrow and sow, all combined in one machine; then 
another will reap and rake, while yet another will thresh 
and bag the grain, together with an appliance that will 
hoist and throw or place it into a great receiver or car, 
which will straightway carry it to be cooked and flaked, 
then packed into glass jars. Thus much for grain. 

The bakeries on earth will all disappear — and it is about 
time they should, for as it is at present they turn out very 
little that is not slow poison — and the cooking and flaking 
of grain, of all kinds, will leave little to be done except to 
stir it together with water, or some other refined liquid — 
probably the extracted juice of fruit — into pudding or 
small cakes which will be both delicious and nutritious. 

Fruit of all kinds will be cultivated extensively, for 
there will be a combination cultivator and pruning 
machine run by electrical motive power, and a man, neatly 
attired, sitting in a glass caboose, will run and work the 
machine. Fruit in immense quantities will be sent to 
great glass canning factories, and all not eaten in its nat- 
ural state will thus be preserved. Glass cans, or jars will 
be much better and cheaper than tin, and exceedingly 
more healthful. Olive and nuts will take the place of 
meat, vegetable oils will be extracted, condensed into 
small cakes or preserved as oil in glass casks and bottles to 
be used in broths and soups. 



174 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Vegetables of all kinds will be cooked, mashed and 
mixed with a suitable amount of the aforesaid oils, 
packed in air-tight glass receivers, ready for consump- 
tion. People can have beautiful homes wherein very 
little labor will be needed. All manner of dishes and 
household utensils will be made of glass, easily kept clean. 
Beds and pillows will be made of air cushions, as will all 
couches, sofas and all sorts of upholstery. Carpets will 
be entirely out of fashion — all floors will be laid in beau- 
tiful glass tiles — mosaic floors will be all the rage with 
occasionally a rug here and there. 

All slaughter houses will be abolished, as well as the 
raising of animals for the purpose of murdering them and 
eating their flesh. 

Animal life will gradually become extinct upon the 
earth, as it has become extinct in many of the planets. 

So you perceive by this, dear friends, those who think 
there would not be room enough in Eternity for so much 
animal life, that animal life exists only for a time on any 
planet — for a time surely comes when it ceases to be — and 
that time is when the glass and electrical ages takes the 
place of wood, stone and iron, and electrical motive power 
takes the place of steam and animal power — and as soon as 
men cease to be cannibals, animal life will fade awa}', that 
is to say, from your earth; but upon the earths not yet 
progressed up to that point, it will be as it has been, and 
was, on the earth. 

Now when some read this they will say at once: "Oh, 
that is all speculation. One can imagine almost any- 
thing/' 

Now, kind friends, let us beg to differ, for we know 
whereof we speak. Just this that we have written has 
already been taught us in the Temple of Wisdom that we 
told you of in our last letter. 

What good will it do you, or the world, at the present 
time, to know what may be a hundred years or more from 
now? 

Well, it will do you the same amount of good that it 
does us here. Do you say: "I shall be dead a hundred 
years from now. All that you have said, that will come 
to pass, will not benefit me any." But, my friend, you 
will l)e just as much interested in the welfare of the earth 
and its inhabitants as yon arc al the present moment: aye, 
a thousand times more so, for your understanding will be 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 175 

immensely enlarged. You will be as eager for wisdom 
then as yon are now, and will be as impatient to give it to 
the earth and all spirits who have it not, as we are. The 
grand-children of those who inhabit the earth to-day will 
be in the heyday of their earthly lives — middle-aged, 
active men and women. Will you not feel interested in 
your grand-children? Your own children will be in the 
spheres with you, but their children will be upon the 
earth, and surely your children will be deeply interested 
in the children left below, as we are now in those we have 
left there, and you will desire to benefit your children the 
same as you do now, and you will love their children, left 
on earth, nearly or quite as much as you do them, in a 
hundred years from now, which is but a moment to 
Eternity. 

There will be no mail service, and you will signal and 
talk freely with the inhabitants of Mars. 

"No mail service? How is that?" 

Well, my friend, the fad will be wireless telegraphy; and 
there will be a receiver in every house, and a little bell in 
every room. When friends who are divided by distance 
desire to talk to each other they will simply touch a little 
electric button, to call the attention of the distant friend; 
then they will talk with their friends as long as they 
please, back and forth, and not an electric wire will be 
used on the earth — not an iron railroad will be in 
existence. 

"Not a railroad? What then, pray? You are growing 
wild, we think." 

Oh, no, no, my friends. We are as level-headed and 
sane as possible. Pneumatic tires will be exceedingly 
fashionable, a hundred years from now, and asphaltum 
grooves will take the place of iron rails. We know it is 
not all clear to you now, but it will be then, and you will 
be the very ones, after you have been taught these things 
here, to push them forward to your grand-children. 

"Well, how about accidents?" 

There will be very few, or no accidents, for when your 
cars are all run by electrical power, there will be no long 
trains, as iX present. Each car will generate its own elec- 
tricity at a trifling expense, and each can be stopped at a 
moment's warning. Most families will have a car of their 
own — they will keep a car as they keep carriages now — 
and grooved roads will take the place of highways — all 



17G LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

persons paying a small road tax. Horses will be entirely 
out of date, but when the glass and electric age comes, 
people will not be in such a dreadful hurry as they are 
now, men will not be in such fearful haste to get rich, the 
railroad companies will have all gone to smash — not a 
railroad company on the earth, a hundred years from now. 
Just think of it, friends, and "Uncle Huntington" will be 
as eager for the new state of things as he has been for the 
interests of the railroad companies he has managed on 
earth. 

"Well, how about the great heavy lines of freight 
trains? They cannot be run with pneumatic tires and 
grooves." 

No. they cannot, and will not, for there will be none to 
run. 

"Oh, you are talking folly." 

No, my friend, we are telling the truth. First of all, no 
cattle cars will be needed, for no cattle or animals of any- 
kind will be raised or slaughtered. Next, all arable lands 
will be tilled as we have previously stated, and any very 
great amount of transportation will not be necessary, and 
great flaking mills will exist everywhere, as will, also, can- 
ning factories and merchants or families — there will be 
comparatively few merchants — will run their own private 
car to the mills and back, as people drive their carriages 
now, and the mills will also run their own cars through all 
the streets of a town or c^ for the purpose of supplying 
families with cooked and flaked cereals or other produce, 
such as we have previously described. The transporta- 
tion of wood, lumber, brick, stone, lime, coal, oil, and all 
corresponding things, will have ceased. There will be no 
further use for them. Joining or cementing will be done, 
mostly, by fusion and all your great iron foundries will be 
no more. Of course, these things will decline gradually, 
as they cease to be needed. When manufactories can all 
be run by electricity, generated on the spot, they will 
start up everywhere, wherever needed, which will do away 
with an immense amount of transportation; in fact, every 
home will have its own generating appliances, and there 
will be so many new inventions for the use of electricity, 
that each house or family will manufacture much of that 
which they require. It may take something over a hun- 
dred years to bring all this to pass, but very much that wo 
have said will be brought about in a hundred yen is. for 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 177 

the inventions are even now already started, or are being- 
worked out in the minds of men. They think they are 
doing it all themselves. How surprised they will be when 
they find that it was not themselves, alone, but that they 
were working out that which we had impressed upon their 
plastic brains, just as we are impressing this brain, at this 
writing, to tell these inventors these things. 

"Well, what good can be accomplished by telling us 
what will be, so far in the future?" 

We will tell you, friends. Thousands will read this, 
among them many inventors. Many minds will receive 
an impetus from what we have written. It all goes to- 
ward helping the time to come. If no one ever thought 
ahead of the times, there would never be any progress. 
Looking ahead is the cause of all progress. It is looking 
ahead and thinking of the good time coming that makes 
that good time come. 

Can anyone gainsay this? We are helping to bring 
about that good time in the future at this moment, and 
this medium is helping to bring it about by writing for us 
and listening to that which we have to say. 

Suppose when a grand Wisdom Spirit stands by the side 
of Thomas Edison and impresses upon his brain great in- 
ventions, he should say, "Oh, I will not give thought or 
time to anything so visionary — so speculative. What we 
have now is quite good enough for me. What do I care 
about a hundred years hence?" He well understands that 
he is only sowing the seeds for something great and grand 
in the future, long after he has joined us here. If, we 
say, great sensitive minds like his should say this, the 
world might be to-day where it was two hundred or 
a thousand years ago. 

"Well, can't you tell us something about the churches, 
creeds, and so forth?" and when we come to these, friend 
Robert steps forward. "I would like to take a hand here," 
he says, and we gracefully and gratefully step one side 
that he may have his say — and he says: 



178 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-ONE. 



"Talmage! Talmage! Brother Talmage! Will you put 
on the gloves, my gentle brother, and take a friendly bout 
with me? and if we get too furious, Herr Franz here will 
throw up the sponge. 

"Brother, you told your congregation, some time ago. 
that when you became a spirit, you would visit them. 
You said: 'When I get to heaven — as by the grace of God 
I am destined to go to that place — I will come and see you 
all. Yes, I will come to all the people to whom I have 
administered the gospel, and to millions of souls to whom 
through the kindness of the printing press, I am per- 
mitted to preach every week to the uttermost parts of the 
earth. I will visit them all. I give you fair notice. Our 
departed friends of the ministry are now engaged in that 
delectable entertainment and undertaking/ 

"There, I believe I have fairly quoted your words. You 
will come to them all, my brother, all those to whom you 
have preached the gospel, either by word of mouth or 
through the printing press? 

"When you made the foregoing remarks, did you ask 
the people how they would receive you? Did you tell 
them in what manner you would come? I think you inti- 
mated that you would come as one of God's soldiers. I 
suppose you forgot all about that 'still small voice.' Did 
you mean one of God's soldiers, or one of Christ's sol- 
diers? But as you believe God and Christ are one and 
the same, and as you pretend to be a follower of the meek 
and lowly Jesus, I take it that you meant a soldier be- 
longing to his regiment — or, did you mean to imply that 
God was the general of the armies in heaven, said armies 
being reviewed by the Holy Ghost, while Jesus was. or 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 179 

would be, the captain of your particular company? You 
did not inform your hearers, if I make no mistake, 
whether you were to be a private, sergeant, or lieutenant, 
but as you are supposed to feed the people, I think that 
you really, cannot rightfully take the place of a fighting 
soldier. I greatly fear, my brother, that you are placing 
yourself a little too high in the list. You cannot be a 
fighting soldier in the ranks and feed the army at the 
same time. I have been a soldier and know whereof I 
speak. I have been a soldier, and they called me Colonel, 
Colonel Bob, Colonel Robert, Colonel Ingersoll, and so 
forth, and the regulations do not admit the one who feeds 
the army, or a regiment, into the ranks as a fighting sol- 
dier. 

"If you claim Jesus as your captain, he said 'feed my 
lambs/ What are you giving them, my brother? How 
are you feeding them? Are you giving them good, 
wholesome food, or embalmed beef? 

"You say you have administered unto the people the 
gospel. You feed them upon gospel according to your 
own words, and you will come as a spirit to those whom 
you have fed upon the gospel. 

"Well, now we really ought to analyze gospel and find 
out what it is — whether it is good for the people or not. 
The regulations for the army say, that the men shall be 
fed on good, nourishing food. Now, as you feed the mind 
instead of the body — that is, we will say that you feed the 
spirit, mind, and soul, instead of the body, you certainly 
are expected to furnish good, wholesome, nourishing food 
to the spirit, mind and soul of man. You feed them gos- 
pel — the gospel of Christ Jesus. You feed the people 
gospel. 

"Gospel is good news; consequently you feed the good 
news. Now instead of a fighting soldier, you are the 
bearer of good news — the messenger bringing good news. 

"Gospel is not bad news, but good news. Nothing in 
the gospel has any reference to bad news. You are to 
feed your people on good news, and I take it that good 
news is of the kind which makes everybody happy, other- 
wise it would be bad news, not good for the mind, spirit, 
and soul of man. 

"Good news, good news! I fear. Brother Talmage, you 
are making a greater mistake than I did. T was mistaken, 
1 admit. Arc yon snr<> that yon are quite right? 



180 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

"Brother, be sure that your news is all correct. Don't 
let any blunders or mistakes creep in. The gospel food 
must be as pure and unadulterated as truth can # possibly 
make it; then, as I understand it, the gospel means good 
news, pure and truthful, not a single lie or misrepresen- 
tation must be in it — pure as clear, spring water, Brother 
Talmage. 

"The gospel of Jesus the Christ, or anointed one, that 
is, the good news, the truthful news that Christ gave to 
the people. Well, what was the news that Christ had for 
the people? 

" 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you/ 
'If thy brother offend thee forgive him seventy times 
seven times. 'Bear not false witness against thy neigh- 
bor.' 'Bless them that curse you/ Now this is just a 
little bit of the good news that Jesus had to bring to the 
world, and you are one supposed to be called by the meek 
and lowly Jesus to give of his good news to the people. 

"I suppose, Brother Talmage, you admit, as Jesus did, 
that all men are brothers and consequently even a spirit- 
ual man is your brother — or rather a man who believes he 
has a spirit — and a man who believes he has a spirit is a 
Spiritualist, otherwise a Spiritualist is one who believes he 
has an immortal soul. 

"Anything wrong about that, Brother Talmage? and 
the man who thus believes — the Spiritualist — is your 
brother. Now all Spiritualists believe they have an im- 
mortal spirit, consequently all Spiritualists are your 
brothers. Have you been careful in your bearing of the 
good news, to do unto the Spiritualist as you would have 
the Spiritualist do unto you? Have you forgiven what 
you suppose to be his mistakes 'seventy times seven 
times?' Have you been exceedingly careful not to bear 
false witness against your brothers? Have you blessed 
and not cursed them? I ask these pertinent questions, 
that you may reflect whether or no you have not been 
making a few mistakes — that the good news you bring 
from Christ is purely that which he commanded you to 
give? Are you bringing the good news directly from 
God or Christ ? If you say from God direct, I reply, that 
God, as you believe, never commanded any man to give 
gospel direct from him except his only begotten son, 
.Irsus. Ilie Christ. You must fight me on that ground or 
none. It is Christ or Dothing. If. as you say. Christ is 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 181 

the only begotten son of God, then you are not the son of 
God and can only know or see God through Christ. So 
it is with Christ and Christ only you have to deal, and it 
is his commands, and his only, that you are expected to 
obey. 

"Did Christ say anything about such a heaven as you 
talk of? He is supposed to have said, 'In my father's 
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that 
where I am, there ye may be also;' and he is supposed to 
have said to the thief on the cross, 'This day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise.' He never said a word about an 
army, never mentioned the name of a general, captain or 
colonel, but he said, 'In my father's house are many man- 
sions. If it were not so I would have told you.' Man- 
sions! very many mansions — and the father's house must 
be the place where the spirits of men dwell. 

"Brother Talmage, where do the spirits of men dwell? 
Where are the many mansions that Christ spoke of? Do 
you know? Can you tell me? If you cannot and your 
Spiritualist brother can, why he must be nearer to Christ 
than you are. Why, you must be a very poor commissa- 
riat, to allow your Spiritualist brother to take your busi- 
ness out of your hands on account of your incompetence. 
You are engaged to feed the people with good news, true 
news, unadulterated food, direct from the fountain head, 
Christ; and you can't even tell them where the father's 
house is situated. Do not hate your brother because he 
can give them better news than you can, for the gospel is 
good news, not bad. 

" 'If I go to my father — or to the place where the spirits 
of men dwell — I will come again.' He was going to the 
father's house, or to the place where the spirits of men 
dwell — to the place where they had a great many man- 
sions — he was going as a spirit freed from his body and he 
would Come again. 

"Did he keep his word, Brother Talmage ? You believe 
that he did. He first appeared to Mary Magdalene and 
she ran directly and told the good news to others. 

"What a crazy, debauched Spiritualist she must have 
been. You also think she was an immoral woman. I 
don't know that we can settle that question now, and 
really it may be quite unimportant whether she was a 
perfectly pure woman or not, but your captain thought 



182 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

her good enough to give the good news to the people, and 
if he thought so, what right have you to differ from him? 

"We have no record that Christ said to her, 'Mary, you 
are a magdalene, consequently I forbid you to tell the peo- 
ple, and my disciples, that you have seen me. No; you 
must keep perfectly silent about having seen me, while I 
will go and find a pure, moral, upright, wise and good 
man — like Brother Talmage, of course — who will tell 
the people that I have kept my word and have come 
again.' No; he didn't say anything of the kind that we 
know about, but he said, 'Mary, it is I. Be not afraid. 
Go and tell the people, and my disciples, that you have 
seen me.' 

"Now, Brother Talmage, you have dwelt largely on that 
seance that King Saul had with the woman of Endor — a 
seance which took place, probably, thousands of years 
before Christ, your Captain, lived in the lower world. 
Your captain never had a word to say about that seance, 
that I know of. What right have you to talk of that 
which your captain ignored? Why don't you tell us 
about that seance in that upper chamber, where the doors 
were all shut and the spirit of Jesus stood in their midst. 

"Now this seance had nothing so awful about it. 
Why don't you give good, pleasant news to the people? 
'and the doors being shut, Jesus stood in their midst.' 
Were these men nice, rich, fashionable? Tell us, brother, 
were they? No; they were poor, common, illiterate 
fishermen, not altogether good either, for Judas betrayed 
his master, Simon Peter denied that he knew him, and 
Thomas doubted that it was he. So we have among the 
disciples a betrayer who sold his master for silver. Do 
you ever sell the truth for silver, Brother Talmage? If 

you do not, then the Rev. Mr. , of Hornsy Rise, 

London, must bear false witness against you, for he said 
that you would not even enter the pulpit to give the hun- 
gering, poor people of a parish, the good news until you 
had received five hundred dollars in advance. 

"That was really more than Judas received for betray- 
ing his master, and that master distinctly commanded, 
w <io, give the gospel — or the good news — to the people, 
\\i Hi out money and without price.' 

"You ought to be court-martialed for disobedience and 
insubordination! But to return to that seance in that 
upper chamber, with those closed doors — and (he book 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 183 

says that Jesus appeared to the eleven. Simon Peter had 
already denied his master, being ashamed to own him; 
probably he thought he might be laughed at; and Thomas 
would not believe that it was Jesus. He, no doubt, 
thought it a fraudulent materialization, and so he had to 
take hold of Jesus and feel the wounds in his hands, feet, 
and side, before he would believe his own eyes. 

"Now Jesus did not stop to ask whether they had all 
been good boj's or not; fact is, he knew very well that 
they were not all good, but, he commanded; 'Go, preach 
to the world the glad tidings of great joy, that you have 
seen me — that I still live and have kept my word and 
come again. Although you thought me dead, Lo, I still 
live!' and many believed and were glad. 

"Now at this seance nothing was said about Jesus com- 
ing up through the floor; but, 'the doors being shut he ap- 
peared in their midst.' We are not even told that they 
were immoral, insane, cadaverous, nervous, clammy, ex- 
hausted, sepulchral, weak, epileptic or cataleptic; but, 
simply, that 'Jesus stood in their midst,' and that it was an 
incident to inspire joy and gladness, and they were to pub- 
lish it to the world as such. 'Gospel! Good news! 
Jesus still lives; and if Jesus still lives, we also shall live. 
This is evidence to our material senses. It is positive evi- 
dence, for we have seen him, had hold of him, and heard 
him talk. Now he is in that place where spirits dwell, 
and there are many mansions there. If he can come 
again, we also can come again. Go, tell the good news — 
the good news!' 

"Brother Talmage, why didn't you tell the people 
about that seance instead of the other? Or, if you must 
tell about the other, tell about both of them. 

"Now you say that you are coming back from that 
place where the spirits dwell — you call it heaven — your 
captain called it the fathers' house — you have faith to 
believe that you can come back — you say you will visit 
millions of people. Now, just here is the rub. Are you 
the only spirit who will be permitted? 

"You have told your hearers and readers thaf the se- 
ance room is the door of hell, or of all that is vile, de- 
bauched, immoral, licentious, cadaverous, nervous, weak, 
sepulchral; you have warned them away from it as from 
a horrible pit of darkness and depravity, and held up 
the mediums or sensitives, as abhorrent wretches. I am 



184 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

really anxious about you, my brother, for I sincerely hope 
you will be able to visit those millions of people. 

"Brother, having shut all the doors against yourself, 
and thrown the keys into the abyss, will you climb up 
some other way — some way especially designed for Tal- 
mage? Even your master must use the medium, Man 
Magdalene, and that upper chamber, with the closed 
doors, for a seance room, and a circle composed of the 
apostles or believers. 

"Your captain can't speak a word to the world to-day 
without mouth-pieces, or mediums. You pretend to be 
a mouth-piece, or medium, for Christ to manifest through 
to-day; in fact, you say that you are a medium for God 
himself to manifest through, you do not even stop at 
Christ. Then you are a sorcerer of all sorcerers, and a 
few hundred years back would have been burned at the 
stake. Are you insane, immoral, licentious, weak, nerv- 
ous, cadaverous, epileptic, cataleptic, and a moral leper 
generally? 

"Fie, fie! my brother. Aren't you ashamed of your- 
self? Your captain commanded you to love your brother, 
bless him and forgive him seventy times seven times. I 
am a spirit here in the father's house, or place where spir- 
its dwell, and I have reported you to your captain. We 
have talked about your disobedience and insubordination 
together — yet he knew of it all along. Have you forgot- 
ten the Golden Rule — Do unto others as you would have 
others do unto you? Thou shalt not bear false witness. 
Now this command interests me fully as much, or more, 
than any other, for the simple reason that when with you 
in the form of perishable substance, I was much engaged 
in the courts of so-called Justice, and had much to do with 
witnesses; and I love the old calling still; and intend to 
engage in it whenever I find an opportunity. You, also, 
hope to be engaged in the delectable entertainment and 
undertaking of carrying good news to the people; but if 
you bear false witness, I will subpoena you to appear be- 
fore the courts of heaven to answer to the charges of de- 
famation of character, public slanderous utterances, and 
malicious falsehoods; and, if you cannot prove your inno- 
cence, you will certainly be obliged to suffer the penalty 
for such crimes. 

"First, defamation of character. Yon have, with 
malice aforethought, defamed all those persons whom you 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 185 

call Spiritualists, although yourself a Spiritualist, as has 
been amply proved by your own concessions. You have 
publicly defamed them by the most base and false accusa- 
tions. You have accused them of about every crime the 
world knows anything about; and when a supposed fol- 
lower of the meek and lowly Jesus so far forgets himself, 
and the express commands of his master, it should be 
taken up on the plea of justice to the world at large. You 
have made a public statement to the effect that the insane 
asylums of the world are filled with those whom you call 
Spiritualists. This is utterly false, as has been proved 
again and again. You have borne false witness against 
your brothers, and your master said: 'He that loveth and 
maketh a lie shall have his part in the lake of fire and 
brimstone, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not 
quenched/ If he did not say so, you believe he did, 
which amounts to the same thing to you. 

"Then, Brother Talmage, as you are proven guilty, your 
sentence has already been pronounced by your captain. 
Your sentence is just. You are to have your part in the 
lake of fire and brimstone, where the worm dieth not and 
the fire is not quenched. 

"Why, Brother Talmage, even I, the 'Infidel/ the 
'Atheist/ the 'Great Agnostic' — Bob Ingersoll — have es- 
caped that hell. I really can't help laughing to think 
that the 'Great Preacher' of the 'Divine Gospel' or 'Good 
News/ should get into that dreadful place with his eyes 
wide open, while poor, foolish Bob, with shut eyes, has 
actually escaped. 

How do you feel down there, Brother Talmage ? That 
is what I shall ask you. 

"Give me your hand, my poor fellow, and I will try to 
lift you out. You may refuse, and not care to associate, 
or receive help from a 'Vile Infidel.' In that case you 
must remain until someone else offers you a helping hand. 

"Now all the various counts, or accusations, that you 
have brought against Spiritualists, are, in the main, false 
and untrue. You have, with malice aforethought, pre- 
varicated the truth, and wilfully borne false witness, 
knowing it to be so; and you stand accused before the all- 
seeing eye — and the all-seeing eye is the all-seeing Spirit- 
ual world — those who dwell in the father's house, or that 
place where the emancipated spirits of men dwell. In 
three or four years, you, also, will be here, for age is al- 



186 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

ready upon you, and I want to tell you now, before you 
come, precisely how it will be with you. 

"You now expect that God himself will stand ready to 
receive one of his great vicegerents — DeWitt Talmage — 
and you will be crowned by him, in person, to the sound 
of martial music — for you are a soldier, you say — with 
great honor and glory. Well, that is all in your imagina- 
tion, my dear brother. You are being tricked by it. It 
tricks you worse than any fraudulent medium ever tricked 
at a seance. Oh, I know whereof I speak! You are, 
really, more gullible than any Spiritualist that ever lived, 
and are doomed to suffer far greater disappointment than 
a Spiritualist who has grasped and 'holds in his hands the 
medium instead of the spirit of his friend. 

"Well, you will come here. After a little while you 
will be conscious that you have departed the earth life, 
then, presently, you will be very eager to see God. But 
no God will appear. Then you will ask to be taken di- 
rectly to him; but there will be none to respond. Then 
probably, you will try to get somewhere yourself — you 
won't have any clear idea where, but you will cry out for 
God and heaven,. for you have told the people, that By the 
grace of God you are destined to go to heaven. The spir- 
its won't hurry at all, and you will actually get into a 
white heat of exasperation at their delay. Perhaps you'll 
shout a little and pound an imaginary pulpit with your 
fists in a commanding and authoritative sort of way, but 
the spirits will only smile and say: c That's Talmage! 
Wait till he gets over some of that earthly bluff. It is 
useless to say very much to him at present. Let him 
shout and pound until he wearies of it.' 

"And now, brother, I will tell you what I mean to do, 
I mean to go right up to you and offer you my hand. I 
expect that you will look at me in the most scornful way 
imaginable, and say, 'Can it be possible that my God has 
consigned me to the same place with infidels and scoff- 
ers?' Then I shall make reply: 

"Brother Talmage, I simply heard the rustle of a wing 
Hid caught a glimpse of the beaming star of hope, and il 
has really done as much for me and perhaps more than 
your God and heaven have done for you. And if you 
read this you will remember these words. Come, brother! 
I bear the rustling wings now. and the star of hope still 
leade onward; ("nine! 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 187 

"Come where? Do you still tell me there is no God, no 
heaven, and that I cannot wear a crown and don heavenly 
regimentals? 

"Not yet — not yet. Oh, my brother! But I will tell 
you something very sweet. If you desire, I will take you 
to your captain, Jesus, whom men have called the Christ. 
Perhaps you will say, 'But it is through Jesus that I shall 
see God/ 

"But Jesus himself has never seen God — not God as 
you understand him. We may and can have an interview 
with Jesus, and when you look into his sweet eyes all your 
past follies will rush over you like a whirlwind, yet no 
word of his will accuse you, still, the sweet truth will 
strike you like an electric shock: 'Neither do I accuse you. 
Go and sin no more.' But the sweet soul will not be able 
to remain in our atmosphere long and we shall presently 
find ourselves standing alone; then, all the abusive slan- 
ders, falsehoods, and insults you have heaped upon those 
whom you sneeringly call Spiritualists, will, like chick- 
ens — the brood hatched by yourself — come home to roost 
and your soul will be shaken by remorse as by a whirlwind 
— aye, you will cower and hide your face, but you can't 
hide yourself from yourself and the brood will refuse to 
budge. 

"Now, what's to be done? Reparation, Talmage, Rep- 
aration. Pay all that thou owest. Repair the wrongs 
you have committed as quickly as possible, and let me 
just whisper now: The sooner you commence the bet- 
ter. There is no need of waiting until you get here. Bet- 
ter leave a portion of the vile brood behind. Take back 
your insults, falsehoods and abusive slanders, and give the 
Spiritualists due credit for what rightly belongs to them, 
as good and pure as you are, perhaps more so. They are, 
as a rule, far more modest; and no medium living on your 
earth to-day, has even received one-half the money — or as 
you have often called, 'filthy lucre — that you have; and 
now I shall hip you a little here. You have cajoled the 
people into paying you what to a medium would be an 
enormous salary each year, and nearly every word you 
have uttered, in all these years on the subject of religion, 
is utterly false — has no foundation in truth whatever. 
You are, and have been, a blind leader of the blind. Who 
is the greater fraud, you or the Spiritualist medium? 
Who has robbed the public most, you or the Spiritualist 



188 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

medium ? As a rule the Spiritualist medium is as sincere 
as you are and far nearer the truth. He gives his time 
and services as you give yours. He receives, perhaps, an 
eighth part of what you do, and many, very many give 
their time and services free. I do not believe there is a 
medium in the United States who would have refused to 
give of his gospel, or good news, to the hungry people of 
London, Eng., until he had at first received five hundred 
dollars in his hand, or a hundred pounds. 

"The people of some of those churches were poor, very 
poor, indeed, could scarcely provide themselves food, 
shelter and clothing, but they were eager to hear the gos- 
pel and so managed to scrape together the money, and 
nearly every word you told them was false, utterly false. 
Don't call other men sinners until you cleanse your own 
soul. 

"You may reply: 'Well, I believe all that I say to be 
true/ In an earthly court of Justice it counts for noth- 
ing that you are ignorant of the law and through that 
ignorance transgressed it. The court exacts the penalty 
just the same, holding you responsible for your ignorance, 
saying you should have informed yourself; and we now 
say to you: Natural law requires you to pay the penalty 
of transgressed law, whether it be transgressed ignorantlv 
or otherwise, thereby compelling one in a measure to 
inform oneself. 

"From the spirit of 

"ROBERT G. INGERSOLL." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 189 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-TWO. 



We have a friend, still remaining on earth, in whom 
we are deeply interested. 

This friend is worthy of all honor and esteem, and is 
greatly beloved and revered, as he should be. We visit 
him often, put ourselves en rapport with him, when his 
mind becomes to us like a page from an open book, to be 
read and understood. This friend is called a Spiritualist 
and believes himself to be one. He is also somewhat me- 
diumistic, but as we in spirit read his mind, we find that 
he is really more of an evolutionist than a Spiritualist. 
He accepts evolution without demur or question, but 
easts aside involution; which reminds us of a man with 
only one arm, having lost the other, and it being so long 
gone from his memory, he either thinks he never had an- 
other, or, if once he had, he believes it was useless, of no 
account whatever, and that he is better off without it; 
this strong right arm of evolution is all he needs, or all 
that anyone needs or ought to have — it is enough for all 
humanity. And here he rests, placid and secure, believ- 
ing he has truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth; and yet this dear friend believes in eternal pro- 
gression. 

As we have said before, we often visit this friend, in 
spirit, put ourselves en rapport with him, thereby agitat- 
ing the calm surface of his mind. 

Friends, do not allow your minds to become fixed on 
any one point and think you have the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, for, like the friend 
above mentioned, you may have only a part of the truth. 
We have purposely caused this friend a good deal of agi- 
tation of mind, for if the mind is not agitated it becomes 



190 LETTERS \VA)M THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

like a calm and placid pool and stagnation is the result. 
We beg of you, each and all, do not stagnate. Do not al- 
low any idea to become unalterably fixed within the mind, 
for in that case progression is impossible. The meaning 
of the word progression is, that the mind receives new 
truths which it had not previously understood or con- 
ceived to be true, and when the mind becomes so fixed, it 
becomes blind to the truth, consequently cannot see it, al- 
though it may be very plain to many others. 

We agitate the waters of this friend's mind, that we 
may benefit him — keep him from becoming fixed, stag- 
nant and blind to that which he ought to comprehend, in 
other words we desire him to progress. 

Personalities should be "hidden behind truthful prin- 
ciples. Persons are, after all, but like grains of sand on 
the sea-shore of life, all necessary, yet each separate grain 
is of little value. 

Sarcasm never yet convinced any man of truth, and 
calling names is rather undignified and childish and is 
calculated to weaken the position taken by the person who 
indulges in the, to him, pleasing pastime — that is, it is 
supposed to be pleasing to the one who indulges in that 
delectable entertainment; but, to come back to our friend. 

This friend is somewhat mediumistic and clairvoyant, 
but his clairvoyant sight is not always as clear as it might 
be. He sees things, as it were, afar off, and you are all 
aware that things look somewhat different off than they 
do near by. 

This friend, who believes in evolution and discards in- 
volution, says that he discerns, or sees with the clairvoy- 
ant vision, a "Shining City," within the spiritual spheres, 
where those who pass out of earth life will meet — friend 
with friend — husband with wife and children — where all 
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, children and 
friends will be re-united and happy together. 

Now this is all true, looking at it from a distance, but 
rather vague and uncertain. The point that we wish par- 
ticularly to make, is this: This friend believes and teaches 
that only man, or the human race, exists after the death 
of the body — only man is immortal. This has become a 
Jixcd or stagnant idea with him, which is much to be de- 
plored, for his mind is grand and noble and should not 
become permanently or immovably fixed, consequently 




LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 191 

improgressive. No one can go on and remain stationary 
at the same time. 

Now as we are spirits within the spiritual spheres, we 
have a right to assert that which is. We may not, and do 
not, know all there is to know, but there are many things 
that we do know positively — many things that we are not 
and cannot be mistaken in, no more than those on earth 
are and can be mistaken in much that they know. They 
know that they are surrounded by a multitude of other 
living creatures beside man. They cannot be mistaken 
in it. We here also know that we are, and cannot be mis- 
taken in it. In former letters we have asserted this fact 
again and again. We also tried to prove it to the earthly 
world; but, like a sum in arithmetic, we have proved it one 
way, that is we have proved it by the great truth or rule of 
Involution; we will now try to prove it in another way, 
and if it stands the test both ways, we think our esteemed 
friend ought to accept the great fact, and thereby hasten 
his progress. 

Now this time we intend to prove it — unmistakably 
prove it — through the very words that he has uttered and 
written himself. He first tells us that he sees — with the 
eye of the spirit, or clairvoyantly — a shining city within 
the spiritual spheres; which is as true as truth can be. 
He speaks of but one city, but no doubt he believes — as is 
the fact — that there are millions upon millions of shining 
cities; here; but we will simply examine the one city that 
he speaks of. By examining one city we can, usually, 
comprehend, more or less, that which appertains to other 
cities, for cities are all much alike, both here and on the 
earth; enough alike to give a true and comprehensive idea 
of them all. 

Now, what we want to know first is, what is a city? 
And we do not think that any will disagree with us when 
we say that a city is an extremely large collection of build- 
ings, and you are all well aware what kind of buildings 
make up an earthly city. But our friend saw a spiritual 
city, if he saw a city — which he certainly did, for we have 
taken great pains to inform ourselves correctly on this im- 
portant subject — he saw a large collection of buildings, 
he does not say what kind of buildings they were, he mere- 
ly tells us that they were shining — shining buildings or a 
shining city of buildings. Now we all know that a city is 
made up of houses or homes, public buildings and schools, 



192 LETTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

institutions of learning, and so forth; halls, temples, in 
fact, everything that is needed for the welfare of its inhab- 
itants, consequently, this shining city seen by our friend , 
must be made up by all that we have mentioned; and we 
do not believe that he can deny this great truth himself. 

He says it was a shining city, and he certainly tells the 
truth as we can vouch, for all our cities here are shining 
and are very splendid indeed, much more so than those of 
earth. Now, in order to be shining, nearly all the build- 
ings must be constructed from precious and shining ma- 
terials — there must be something to shine, you know, else 
it would not shine — so our friend is all right there. We 
all know that a shining city, or extremely large collection 
of buildings, must necessarily have something to stand 
upon, else it would be an extremely shaky shining city, or, 
perhaps, a mirage of the imagination. 

Our friend did not say what it stood upon, but we all 
know that a large city cannot, in the nature of things, 
stand on ether, it must have something a little more sub- 
stantial than ether, it must and does necessarily have spir- 
itual earth or ground to stand upon, and that spiritual 
earth or ground must be as substantial, correspondingly, 
to the shining spiritual city as the material city, which 
does not always shine. We don't believe our friend can 
gainsay this point. 

Now if the. city stands on spiritual ground — as it cer- 
tainly does and must — no one can think for a moment 
that the ground does not extend beyond the city limits. 
We don't believe even our friend could cherish that 
thought for any length of time. It certainly would be a 
very peculiar-looking city, perched up in ether, on a plat 
of ground just large enough to hold it. Oh, no. There 
must be in the very nature of things an extensive sur- 
rounding country, and this is true. Of course we have 
all heard about spheres upon spheres — spiritual spheres 
surrounding your globe — and this also is true, but we will 
try to confine ourselves to the shining city of which our 
friend speaks, and the surrounding country. Now, if our 
friend were in that city and looking out over the sur- 
rounding country, he would not expect to see the end of 
it, he really would expect that it would extend as far as 
the spiritual eye could reach and he would not think it 
ended there, either. We have now got a great extent of 
country, together with the shining city, spread out before 



LETTERS FROM THE SPTRIT WORLD. 1 93 

us, of firm, spiritual ground, on which stands a large and 
shining city unshaken. Now our friend certainly does 
not mean that this is all in his imagination, or that he 
sees and enjoys it as crazy or insane people of earth do, 
simply in the imagination; no, oh, no. These are real 
spiritual things. We can vouch for it. Friends, it is as 
true as heaven is true. 

Now we want to know something about this large ex- 
tent of country, firm and substantial enough to hold a 
large and shining city. Is it a barren plain without 
trees, shrubs or flowers — a dreary, endless nothing- 
ness? Tell us, my evolutionist friend. You believe 
heaven to be far more beautiful than earth. Would a 
barren nothingness be more beautiful than earth? Or 
even if — as is the case — this extensive surrounding coun- 
try, or spiritual ground, was dotted over with little vil- 
lages and sequestered homes, you would not like to see 
them standing upon a barren desert, without a tree, vine, 
flower, or shrub anywhere throughout the whole expanse? 
No, your eye would grow sick and weary of such a sight — 
and this throughout eternity! Oh, how you would long 
for the green old earth. You would be, methinks, like a 
nun who had been confined in a dungeon for twenty years 
or more, on escaping she threw herself down on the grass, 
kissing it again and again, hugging the ground and bath- 
ing it with her tears; but; my friend, although you did not 
say so, this vast extent of country, dotted over with vil- 
lages and lovely sequestered homes, is as green and beau- 
tiful as possible, covered with trees, shrubs, flowers, 
groves and forests, as much more beautiful than earth as 
the shining city is than a city of earth. It is all subli- 
mated and spiritual, to be sure, and therein lies its beauty. 
It has left all coarseness, disorder and grossness behind. 

Now your shining city has led us directly into this most 
beautiful surrounding country, and from your own lips 
we have proved every word as we went. In order to give 
this up, you must necessarily give up the shining city, and 
call yourself a falsifier, and that you are not, as we shall 
still continue to prove. Now we have grass, trees, vines, 
and flowers, a shining city, villages and sequestered 
homes, for without them you can have no shining city. 

Now over this endless expanse of country, is there not a 
drop of water? Can a green and beautiful country exist 
without a drop of water? Oh! my friend, how you would 



194 LETTERS FROM THE SPIIUT-WORLI). 

long to quaff a little of the sparkling nectar — how you 
would long to bathe your face in its cool limpidness. Why, 
we think that to be without water would make us quite 
insane, indeed. Our imagination would become so heated 
we fear that we should see fire instead of the truth as it is, 
pure, sparkling, clear cool, limpid water. Well, now, na- 
ture is ever bountiful and we are not confined to a few 
drops, but this vast extent of country is intersected witli 
pools, ponds, rivulets, rivers, and far out there in the dis- 
tance a large lake, and farther on still rolls a restless 
ocean. The water is ethereal and spiritual, corresponding 
to the spiritual earth, grass, flowers, villages, homes and 
shining cities. See where your shining city leads, and 
you cannot gainsay it without giving up the city? You 
said the city was in the spiritual spheres, or one of them, 
and the surrounding country is a little part of one of 
them. 

You told us that within the city dw T elt man the immor- 
tal, and that he came from the earth, or that his spirit 
rose up from the earth. You did not say that the subli- 
mated spiritual spheres also rose up from the earth, and 
you did not tell us who builded the shining city, or how it 
was built. There are only two ways that a city can be 
built; either God must build it with his own hands, alone, 
or it must be built by those who inhabit it. You, my 
friend, will surely repudiate the idea that God builded the 
shining city with his own hands, personally, for you do 
not believe in a personal God; herein you are right. 

We have been here twenty years or more and we are as 
far away from a personal God as ever w r e were, and we 
have never met an angel who knows anything about a per- 
sonal God. Then this city was builded by those who in- 
habit it, and the villages and sequestered homes w r ere 
builded by those who inhabit them; otherwise, the angels 
and spirits built their own homes and houses, schools, col- 
leges, halls, and temples of learning, and being a shining 
city, they builded them of beautiful and shining material 
— so we will pass on. 

We have also told how by the great law of involution, 
all things were evolved — the involuting of spiritual germs 

of thai which was to be evolved. 

Now, man was involved as the germ of a man, and then 
evolved as a man — the germ developed and perfected 
within matter— from thence evolved into the celestial 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 195 

spheres. The shining city, the villages and sequestered 
homes are works of art, existing within man, which he 
clothes with sublimated or spiritual matter, but not the 
spiritual ground, nor the grass, the trees, the flowers, the 
water; these were evolved from the earth as was man, first 
by involution and then by evolution. 

Now we are here in this vast expanse of country which 
has been evolved from the earth, together with man. Did 
nature, when she evoluted these forests, trees, shrubs, 
flowers, grass — and man evoluted cities, towns, villages, 
sequestered homes, and so forth — did nature, we ask, 
make such a sad blunder as to leave out all other living 
creatures except man? Did she strike out the intermedi- 
ate link between the vegetable and floral kingdoms and 
man ? You say distinctly and emphatically, that she did. 
If so, it is the first and most awful blunder she ever made. 
The vegetable, floral and grassy kingdoms are, as you well 
know, below the living and breathing animal kingdoms. 
How did it happen that the lower was brought up and 
the higher left? That, surely, was the strangest freak 
that nature ever performed. 

Look over the vast expanse of country; according to 
what you say, there is not a living or breathing thing in 
all this enormous expense but man; and this is only the 
smallest little portion of one of the spiritual spheres, hold- 
ing only one city and a few villages and homes; and 
throughout the spheres are millions upon millions of sim- 
ilar cities, towns and villages, and they are but dots in the 
limitless expanse of the spheres, mere, simple dots. Ac- 
cording to you, not a bird sings, not an insect chirps, not 
a particle of life anywhere, for bacillus and scarlet fever 
germs might exist if anything were to be admitted here 
in the form of an insect or animal. The carnivorous 
would feed upon the herbivorous, and yet it is well under- 
stood that spirits do no gross feeding. If that were the 
case the spirit of man when he had no animal here to kill 
and feed upon might be obliged to eat grass, for he is ex- 
ceedingly carnivorous as well as herbivorous. If no life 
can be taken within the spiritual spheres, no animal can 
take life any more than man. If man cannot slay his 
brother here, he cannot slay an animal. Life is life, 
whether in man or animal, and if man cannot slay an ani- 
mal, animals cannot slay each other, neither do they de- 
sire to. It is simply hunger that causes them to slay each 



196 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

other on earth, and, yet, even there, they slay nothing but 
the gross body, the sublimated spirit lives as does man's — 
the life the form. 

But, my friend, although you have made a great mis- 
take, nature has not. Thanks to the grand old dame, she 
has Drought them all here without a single break. Bless 
her dear old soul! She never forgot one, but gathered 
them all up like a wise and bountiful mother. She knew 
beforehand that to leave out a vast link would spoil the 
whole chain. 

As for the bacillus and scarlet fever germs, given a 
chance and they would be as active as ever, but having no 
longer matter to feed upon, and being too minute to think 
about, they do no harm whatever. As for fleas, they can 
be found here as upon earth — but the dogs are not 
troubled, and their feeding days are over. We have not 
the slightest objection to anything that nature has seen 
fit to involve and evolve, and if we had, nature would 
certainly overrule our objections. You seem to get along 
very well on earth without the insect and animal life be- 
ing left out, and as you come up higher they can do you no 
harm whatever. 

Nature loves a toad just as well as she loves a man. 
She does not stop to ask whether one has a little more in- 
telligence than another. She loves intelligence, but she 
loves form and beauty and life, whether in man or ani- 
mal, flower or tree. She never stops to ask the tree 
whether it is intelligent or not, or the flower, or the shrub, 
or man; but she makes the best use possible of them all. 
The smallest thing that lives has a certain amount of rea- 
son. There never lived an animal that had not its share 
of reason — not a bird that flies nor an insect that chirps. 

Man is the crown, you say, but nature does not think so. 
Man thinks that of himself. But whether he is the crown 
or not, he is no more immortal than the rest of living and 
created things. Nature is as careful of her lowest treas- 
ures as she is of man. 

And now, my friends — together with my particular 
friend, who by telling us of the shining city, without 
knowing it, admitted all the rest — cast your eyes over the 
Large expanse of spiritual territory and let us see what we 
see: Singing birds are flying about among the trees — beau- 
tiful, exquisitely beautiful! Their songs are far sweeter 
than they were on the earth. Look at those homes. Do 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 197" 

you not perceive that there is, as usual about such homes 
of earth, cats and dogs, rabbits, poultry, horses, cows and 
so forth? But these are all pets, and they are not numer- 
ous. The spiritual realms are exceedingly spacious, not 
cramped for room at all. Now glance into those waters 
— fish? Yes, fish. Now let us enter the forest — wild an- 
imals? Yes, wild animals. Not wild now, however, but 
exceedingly beautiful. As nothing propagates within 
all the great realm of spirit, the earths can give no more 
than is needed to give life and beauty to its great fields, 
forests, oceans, seas, rivers, and so on — to give life and 
beauty, pets and living companionship to men, women 
and children. 

Old Mother Nature is far wiser than man, and knew 
best what was for his good, better far than he knows him- 
self. 

Now we hope that we have amply proved, from the very 
utterances of one who does not believe in the immortality 
of anything but man, that he has made a mistake, as all 
men are liable to; for if there were no mistakes, or errors 
there could be no progress. The very fact that man is a 
progressive being, is evidence within itself, that there is 
something to progress toward, that truth is veiled like a 
coy maiden or a modest woman, likewise that she forever 
flies onward leading the way to higher ground; man fol- 
lows after but never quite overtakes her. She often turns 
her radiant face and form toward him, presses a few 
jewels into his hands, then flies onward with beckoning 
hand. Don't stop, man! but follow her as closely as 
possible. 

Nature has never asked man whether he would have 
serpents, reptiles, noxious weeds, bacillus, scarlet fever 
germs, yellow fever germs, small-pox germs, carnivorous 
animals, birds of prey, sharks, whales, sea-serpents, croco- 
diles, asps, cobras, or anything else which he considers ob- 
noxious. She never consulted him about it but placed his 
life in the midst of all other teeming lives. Their lives 
are just as sweet to them as his life is to him. Their lives 
are just as necessary in the great ocean of life as his is. 
The animals that man slays and feeds upon, object strong- 
ly to being murdered and eaten by him, as he objects 
strongly to being eaten by some of them. Man objects to 
being stung by a cobra. The cobra objects to the man's 
crushing heel and has nothing but a poisonous fang to 



198 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

protect herself with, together with her young. The cobra 
and the man are antagonistic, that is all. Mother Nature 
sees to it that her most helpless ones shall have some 
means of defending themselves. 

Man talks of wild animals while he goes to war with 
cannon, shell and gatling-guns, slaying his fellow-men by 
the thousands. He talks of himself as being the only 
creature worthy immortality, while he invents the most 
horrible tortures, such as no animal ever did or could in- 
flict upon him. 

Ah! the egotism of it! 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-THREE. 



As we come en rapport with the forty or fifty thousand 
readers of The Progressive Thinker, we find within the 
minds of these persons a question — a really imperative 
question — which they greatly desire that we, as spirits, 
should answer. 

"Is it possible for spiritual beings to visit such remote, 
far-away zones as the so-called Milky Way, or stars so far 
distant that it takes such a long period of time for their 
light to reach us here ? Can a spiritual being travel more 
rapidly than light?" and we answer: 

A spiritual being cannot travel to these far distant 
spheres. A spiritual body cannot travel faster than light 
— but within this body is another body, which for want of 
a better name we shall call the thought body. 

Some may think that we here mean the soul, but we 
do not, for within this thought body dwells the soul. A 
person on earth, who has not yet laid aside the material 
body, has a material body, a spiritual body, a thought 
body, and a soul. The soul is the immortal living prin- 
ciple that has neither beginning nor end, and it clothes 
itself with these various bodies or substances — the ma- 
terial 1><><1_\\ the spiritual body, the thought body — and ii 
expresses itself through these various forms. 

The materia] body cannol leave the material earth, and 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 199 

yet the thought body can transfer itself instantaneously 
to any part of the globe, as well as to the far-away regions 
in space. The spiritual body, after leaving the material 
body, cannot leave the spiritual spheres, but the thought 
body can go, in a comparatively short time, to any sphere 
or zone that it is possible to cognize; but when the spirit 
is freed from the earthly body its powers are increased an 
hundred fold, and its perceptions and sight become clear 
and lucid. 

If, while in the material body one can weigh and 
measure the stars and compute their distance, understand 
them somewhat, and see their light, what may not the 
soul and thought body be capable of? But we have the 
power here of freeing ourselves of the spiritual body for 
quite lengthy periods of time. One might say the spiritual 
body goes to sleep, or becomes unconscious, while the soul 
and thought body fly away to other zones. 

And this is what we meant when, in a former letter we 
stated that men of earth traveled from one city to another, 
from one country to another, and occasionally around the 
globe; while we, here, travel from one sphere to another, 
from one planet to another, and occasionally took a turn 
through the milky way, as we really do; still, we can visit 
all the planets in our sublimated spiritual body, that is, 
all belonging to the system of which your earth is one. 

After we have taken these delightful journeys we return 
home, so to speak, enlarged and refreshed, having added 
to our store of knowledge. We return and impart what 
we have gained to those who are not yet able to dis- 
entangle themselves from their material, spiritual bodies, 
and to those of earth, if they desire to know, and ask in 
all seriousness, with minds receptive to truth; but a cark- 
ing, captious, fault-finding spirit is obnoxious to the 
higher intelligences; and when a spirit is doing its utmost 
to give truth to the world, it does not like to be met with 
the cry — "Evil spirit! Fraud! Lying spirit! Deceiver!'' 
Suppose, for instance, that a teacher or lecturer of earth 
was engaged in giving the best of the knowledge he had 
attained to an audience, and as he was striving to elucidate 
some point one should rise up and shout — "Liar! De- 
ceiver! Fraud! Blatant Ananias!" and so forth. What 
would you think of such an one? Probably the lecturer 
would sit down in confusion and one in authority, or in 
other words a policeman, would immediately remove the 



200 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

offender of good manners and decency; and we here in 
the spirit are even more sensitive to such rudeness than 
those of earth. But when one asks questions which one 
really and earnestly desires to have answered because one 
wishes to know, then it is a pleasure to us to answer such 
questions to the best of our knowledge and ability. 

There are spirits here who might not be able to visit any 
zone, or even a planet, in a thousand years; such ones be- 
ing bound down to gross materiality; and, allow us to say, 
that some of the very learned and erudite ones of earth, 
on coming here, are more obtuse than some of those who 
were on earth considered extremely ignorant. Take, for 
instance, one who is all technic — who can tell you the 
names of almost every thing, but has little or no perception 
of spirituality or spiritual things — one who deals in words, 
words, words, and when he gets through one can scarcely 
find an idea among them — one who, perhaps, can talk or 
write for hours, and when he is done you look for an 
original thought, or, in fact, any thought at all, and feel 
as though you were looking for a needle in a hay-mow. 
Such spirits may be, and often are, here a great many 
years and know but little if any more than they did when 
on earth. Oh, they are dry souls — husky and dry beyond 
measure! 

Nearly all the technical terms used on earth are useless 
to us here — so useless, indeed, that we often quite forget 
them. Spirits use very little language, their thoughts 
being transferred one to another without much speaking. 

Error can be clothed in words without number — yea, a 
whole dictionary of words; but truth is so simple that it 
needs little more than a glance or gesture. A mother has 
only to look into her baby's eyes to tell it that she loves it, 
and the baby understands it entirely, trusts her wholly, 
without a word being spoken on either side; in fact the 
baby does not yet understand a word of spoken language, 
but it understands perfectly just what the mother wishes 
it to know. The most silent people are often the wisest, 
and the greatest amount of wisdom is gained by retiring 
into the silence where the soul holds silent communion 
with the higher angels, the thoughts or truths of the 
angels (lowing into the receptive mind without a word 
being uttered on either side. There is scarcely a question 
ilia i the human mind can ask thai may not be answered, 
truthfully, in this way. The more erroneous an idea, the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 201 

more words it takes to bolster it up, but truth can stand 
alone without such wordy props. Beautiful jewels are 
often hidden by heaps of rubbish. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-POUR. 



We wish now to tell you a little more about the future 
of the earthly world. Do not say that the future cannot 
be prophesied, for that which exists here with us we know 
and are sure of. We also know that many of the truths 
that are in operation here will soon be given to the world 
below, and one, among many others, is that of thought 
photography. 

You have already got wireless telegraphy; the next 
thing will be thought telegraphy together with thought 
photography. 

Now thought can travel as fast as electricity and even 
faster. The brain is really a storage battery, it not only 
sends forth its currents of thought but it is a receiver at 
the same time. Earthly language is to become less in- 
stead of more, for when once thought photography be- 
comes firmly established and in fine working order, people 
will learn to condense their thoughts into as few words as 
possible, and the simpler the better. Much that is now 
called imagination is really photography. The sensitive 
brain of one who is highly mediumistic receives impres- 
sions from the ethereal atmosphere, just as a sensitized 
plate receives and holds fast the objects designed to be 
photographed. 

We know a lady who is so mediumistic, and whose brain 
is so sensitive, that she knows about all that is taking 
place on the earth, at all times, without taking the slight- 
est trouble to inform herself of these things by reading 
the daily papers. In fact, daily papers are not admitted 
into her house, and she has, long ago, ceased to read them, 
they render her so miserable — the murders, the suicides, 
the scandal, the police records, the catering to fashion and 
fads, the sickening details of fashionable society, the 



202 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

cruelty, the injustice, and all the details that go to make 
up a daity newspaper; but, without reading or hearing a 
word she can tell nearly all that is transpiring in the 
world; and those who are, as they suppose, thinking, plan- 
ning, and perhaps writing great things secretly, their 
thoughts are not secret at all, for the electrical ether, or 
the electrical currents within the ether, are carrying them 
almost instantly, and they are being reproduced or pho- 
tographed on the brain of this sensitive and all other sen- 
sitives like her, also the image of the person or persons 
who are thus, thinking, planning and writing. 

That which is called clairvoyance will, bye and bye, be 
much better understood than at present. Hundreds on 
the earth to-day are secretly, or otherwise, engaged in 
testing telepathy, and the results, to them, have been most 
wonderful; although the words are never quite exact the 
thought is; and this shows the truth of what we before 
stated, that words will become of less account while the 
thoughts will be all important. 

Now there are those at the present time who are trying 
to discover- the method whereby thoughts can be photo- 
graphed so that they may be seen with the material eye; 
and, believe us, friends, it will soon be brought about; the 
time is also near at hand when your spirit friends will be 
able to give you their pictures together with much of the 
scenery in spirit life, and then will be proved, beyond 
cavil or doubt, the existence of animal life here in the 
spheres; for in the spirit scenery the animals will appear. 

It is knowledge like this which will save the world and 
bring it up out of selfish sensuality; not the crystallizing 
of new creeds and the forming of new societies, patterned 
after the old, where a few may have honors and emolu- 
ment conferred upon them and thereby reap a goodly 
harvest of shekels. Sitting in the silence to receive in- 
struction from higher intelligences, the home circle where 
there is no incentive for fraud, and the reading and writ- 
ing of good spiritual literature is better, far better, than 
all the societies, creeds and promiscuous seances in the 
Avorld. When mediumship is not bartered for money it 
w ill be better for all. 

Why should the divine gift of mediumship be sold for 
li I thy lucre? Why not earn money in other ways, through 
regular Inisincss channels, and keep the divine gift pure 
and unspotted from the world? It may be said that the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 203' 

laborer is worthy of his hire; but why make it a calling for 
hire? Just so long as it is, just so long the world must 
expect fraud, for the persons who work for hire will 
always try to please those who pay them that they may 
gain more and larger hire. So, wonder not that your 
ranks are filled with fraud, for the one who can give the 
most wonderful things gets the mosf money. Now if 
mediumship never received a cent of pay from any 
quarter, fraud would die a natural death and be buried 
out of sight forever — and, friends, allow us to tell you that 
all will have to come to this at last. Your wonderful 
materializing seances and public tests will all have to die 
the death, for so many frauds will arise — so many dis- 
graceful arrests will be made, that these things will be- 
come a stench in the nostrils. 

Spirits never materialize that a so-called medium may 
receive a dollar for each visitor — never, never, dear 
friends! Do not believe it. Spiritual beings very rarely 
materialize and when they do it is usually in private. 
They sometimes make themselves visible to some dearly 
beloved, grief -stricken friend; to whom they were tenderly 
attached, to assure them that they are not dead, but 
simply invisible to the eyes of the mourner; they strive 
hard to let the grief -stricken one know this great truth by 
making themselves as tangible as possible for a few mo- 
ments. Sometimes an earthbound spirit will haunt a 
house, or other locality, occasionally making itself visible. 
Then there are spirits who are revengeful; they desire to 
be revenged on someone who injured them in life; perhaps 
they were murdered, or robbed, or ruined, arid they thirst 
for revenge; but these are earth-bound and there is very 
little good accomplished by such appearances. 

If every seance-room could be visited by men of science 
— exact science — and every medium claiming the gift of 
being able to make spirits materialize could be subjected 
to such conditions that fraud would be impossible, very 
little materializing would be found in the world, and what 
there was would be genuine and worthy to be placed, as a 
great truth, with the exact sciences. When such a me- 
dium was found and tested beyond all question of doubt, 
then such an one should be surrounded by the most fa- 
vorable conditions and al] reasonable wants and necessi- 
ties supplied or a reasonable salary paid them as well as a 
guarantee of support in sickness or old age; but, even 



20 I LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

then, each seance should be strictly tested so that no fraud 
could possibly creep in. 

There are other errors that we should like to write 
about, and one is, that some who leave earth are not given 
a chance to manifest themselves if they would. This does 
not apply to the phase of materialization, but to that of 
spirit control of thought photography. If a very noted 
person of earth comes here and wishes to give information 
to the world he has left, he is met by the cry, "Oh, th'is 
cannot emanate from the spirit of such an one. It is not 
worthy of him;" and Mr. Ingersoll wants to say a few 
words on this subject which we will reserve for our next 
letter. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-FIVE. 



Robt. G. Ingersoll says: Friends and readers of The 
Progressive Thinker: — I want to say a few words on an 
all-important subject. Do not expect the spirit of a man 
to talk precisely as he did when on the earth and within 
his material body, for a great change has come to that 
man. 

All the eloquence of rhetoric he has, mayhap, thrown 
into the waste basket as so much rubbish, or so many un- 
necessary words. I tell you, my friends, it takes the 
starch out of a man, mightily, to find out that he really 
knew so little after all. I feel now as though I were sift- 
ing jewels from an enormous amount of chaff — the jewels 
being few, rare, and far between; and, then, friends, my 
power as a writer was never as great as that of a talker or 
lecturer, for I gained power and strength from those 
whom I was addressing or talking to, and when I got well 
started I sometimes ran at a headlong pace and did not 
always know just where I should stop; moreover, spirits 
sometimes got hold of my brain and worked it to suit 
themselves, for some especial purpose. I often wondered 
if this were not the case, providing there were any such 
beings. Well, now ii is quite different. I am not talk- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 205 

ing but writing, and writing through a foreign instrument 
or brain. 

Now I don't want to be slapped in the face, because I 
am doing my level best to let you all know that I am not 
dead. I don't want to be told that my efforts are not 
worthy of me. That which I am trying to do is worthy of 
any man or spirit. I am trying to tell the truth — the 
great and glorious truth of the immortality of the soul. 
When a man is in deep, dead earnest, he doesn't always 
stop to cut and dry his words, but he shouts them forth 
in terse, short sentences. He is not trying to cater to an 
audience or please the people, but he shouts forth, "I have 
got it! Great God! I have found it;" and you cry, "What 
have you found?" and he shouts back, "That which all 
humanity have been seeking since the world began — Im- 
mortality! There is no Death!" 

"How do you know?" 

"Because I am here. I have passed the Rubicon. I 
have entered in at the straight gate, even the gate beauti- 
ful. Men call it death; but death and life are weird twin 
sisters. You pass from the hands of one directly into 
those of the other. Death is misnamed. She is really 
Life Eternal. Death is a phantom, but Life is real. Life 
is earnest. Life is beautiful, crowned with the flowers of 
immortal youth. I thought I was growing old and here 
I am, youthful, strong and powerful as a young lion — aye, 
I feel like a God. Ah! I realize now, to the fullest extent, 
the true meaning of all those old Greek gods. Symbols — 
symbols, my friends; nothing more. Why do I feel like a 
God? Because man is a God. That which I thought I 
did not know, I now know. To be immortal is to be a God. 
To never die — to live and learn forever is to be God, and 
they tell me here, that immortality is all the God I shall 
ever know." 

I said when I was with you in the body, that all men 
ought to be happy, that all men should surround them- 
selves with beautiful objects, that their homes should be 
models of comfort and beauty, that all men had a right 
even to the luxuries that mother nature bountifully sup- 
plies, and my mind is not changed in the least on those 
points, but rather I am more and more confirmed in such 
opinions. Every human being should surround himself 
or herself with the very most beautiful and comfortable 
things possible for him or her to obtain, and they should 



206 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

strive hard thus to do; but, do not misunderstand my 
meaning; in doing this they should be very careful not to 
rob or wrong another, for every penny a human being ob- 
tains unjustly, that he must return sooner or later. By 
this, one can see what a hell the millionaires are making 
for themselves. If they could repay these wrongs with 
money it might be easy for them; but money has no value 
here; the soul must pay — pay to the uttermost farthing; 
not in cash, but in unutterable woe. This is not fancy, 
my friends; these are not idle words but everlasting 
truths. 

Every man, woman and child on earth has a right to a 
good and comfortable home wherein they may surround 
themselves with objects of art and beauty. No man 
should be in poverty and no man should be over rich, and 
no company of men should have the power to rob the 
people. A company of men whose business it is to rob 
the people are no better nor different, except in name, 
than a company of highwaymen. Robbery is robbery, call 
it by whatever name one may please. 

Oh] it is beautiful here. Such wrongs are all righted 
here; and, perhaps, you will be better able to understand 
how it should be on earth if I tell you how it is here. 
First, then, we have no such thing as money value. All 
the riches we have belong wholly and entirely to the soul 
and spirit, and those who are the very richest in spirit 
have the most to bestow, and those who can give or be- 
stow the most are the happiest; those who have not riches 
of soul or spirit are the poverty-stricken ones, conse- 
quently are the most unhappy. How strange it would 
seem to you of earth, if one of your multi-millionaires 
should say to himself: "I begin to see the error of my 
ways. Instead of gathering to myself I will bestow. 
Here, now, I am worth so many million dollars. I will 
reserve enough of this money to make myself and family 
comfortable, also to make my home beautiful and luxu- 
rious if need be; the remainder I will bestow upon those 
who have no homes. I begin to see that all would have 
homos if they had not been robbed of that which right- 
fully belonged to them. Now I will bestow all my sur- 
plus wealth and try to induce others, who are rich, to do 
likewise." 

This man then takes his money and with it purchases 
a trad of land in a pleasant locality, divides it up into 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 207 

acre lots and upon each lot erects a pretty, convenient 
cottage — a real comfortable home — he can make as many 
improvements as his means will allow. Now he has got 
so many pretty and comfortable homes for as many as 
they will shelter, and he sets himself to the task of finding 
occupants among the poor and needy that he may bestow 
these homes to those who need them. 

First, perhaps, he finds a widow with a family of little, 
helpless children; her husband, maybe, has just been 
killed on the railroad and herself and little ones about to 
be ejected from their miserable tenement rooms, and cold 
winter near at hand. He says to her: "Madame, I will 
present to you one of these nice cottages together with its 
acre of ground — that is I will give you a life lease of it — 
for these homes may not be bought or sold for money. I 
will also do what I can to aid you in obtaining food and 
clothing for yourself and children." 

Again he finds a hard-working man with a family to 
support. The poor man has been out of work more or 
less for many months; he is utterly discouraged and de- 
jected; he cannot pay the rent of the miserable and un- 
comfortable tenement which he calls home, but which 
is to him hell instead of home. The man has often longed 
for a pretty cottage and a nice bit of ground to cultivate, 
but has been too poor to obtain it. The rich man says to 
this poor fellow, "Come with me and bring your wife and 
children. Look! is not this a nice, comfortable home, 
and this acre of ground is just what you want. Here is a 
life lease of it. It is yours as long as you live and wish to 
reside in it. Take it, and thereby make me happy as well 
as yourself." And the poor man weeps for joy. 

"I will also aid you in obtaining work, good, remunera- 
tive employment. I will employ you myself, if need be, 
for four hours each day, for which I will pay you one dol- 
lar per day." 

How long do you think it would take this rich man, in 
or near Chicago, to give away these nice homes to those 
who cruelly need them; and those who suffer thus have 
been robbed of their rights, as men and citizens, by the 
rich and powerful, by monopolies, trusts, and so forth. 

Now in the whole course of the rich man's life, he never 
experienced such joy as he now feels. Try it, some of 
you, and see if I do not tell the truth. Every man on the 
face of the earth has a moral right to an acre of ground 



208 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

with a pretty and comfortable home in the center of it, 
and no man on the earth has a right to any more in his 
own personality, and human beings ought not to live, hud- 
dled together like sheep, in a city, in tenement houses — 
houses owned by rich landlords who, each week, rob these 
poor people of their hard earnings and in return give 
them a place to live, little better than dog kennels, and 
treat them worse than they do their dumb animals. 

"Well, the rich man who has thus bestowed his surplus 
wealth becomes exceedingly happy, and his face shines 
with joy; for love, wisdom and goodness have entered into 
his soul. Now he says: "If my capabilities are larger than 
some of my poor brothers and sisters, and circumstances 
have placed me where I am able to do more good, I ought 
to be very happy and thankful; but, I want to be happier 
still; I want to be wiser yet; consequently, I will look 
around; mayhap there is other work for me to do. How 
much happier it makes me to work for the good of my 
brother man than it does to simply work for myself alone. 
As a rich, grasping man, I was always miserable, and now 
I have found the way to be happy, so I will work for the 
good of others with all my might, and as long as I can, 
for I like to be good and happy/' 

That man said, "As long as I can," and he can forever 
and forever, and forever more, and the more he does the 
happier he gets, the wiser he becomes — aye, he is a very 
God — an immortal Jove! 

Now, my friends, that is one way of getting into heaven, 
and one of the very best ways I know anything about. 
You all want to go to heaven, don't you? That is when 
you die, or shuffle off the mortal coil? Well, why not go 
to heaven right now, just where you are? Don't wait a 
moment if you can help it. Why, the spirit can have 
heaven in the body as well as out of it. You don't need to 
get out of it to get into heaven, and if you don't get 
heaven before you get out of it, you won't find it when 
you do, for as you are, so you will be for a long time to 
come. Better hurry a little; you can't afford to wait. 
Why live in hell fifty years, more or less, hoping to find 
heaven at the other end, when you might find and take it 
along with you each hour and year you live on earth? 
Why, my friends, you don't know what a great big heaven 
you can make in that length of time; so, go right about it 
this moment, one and all: no matter whether you are a 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 200 

multi-millionaire or not, you certainly are able to do 
something toward making a heaven for yourself. If you 
have not got any money, you can search for jewels to dis- 
tribute among your fellow-men, or you can do as I used to 
do, knock down some grinning monster that threatens to 
destroy the happiness of your brother or sister. The jew- 
els are truths, the monster is error. Knock him down, 
knock him down! I say, and spare not — demolish him root 
and branch. 

Error is a blatant Ananias, and Robert G. Ingersoll will 
kill him if possible. I vender if blatant liars go about 
doing good? I wonder if they advise people to be gener- 
ous, good, wise, virtuous, truthful, and to do unto others 
as they would have others do unto them? I wonder if 
they inspire men to give their money and talents toward 
furthering all good works, without hope of recompense 
other than the heaven it brings to them? Very strange 
kind of blatant Ananiases, are they not? Very peculiar 
kind of evil spirits, are not they? And fraud? Whom 
do they defraud? Well, suppose I admit the fraud, or, 
rather, defraud. I will admit the defraud. To defraud 
is to take away something that one possesses. If one pos- 
sesses a spirit of evil, defraud him of it if you can. If one 
is grasping, cruel, selfish, immoral, it is good that he be 
defrauded of those qualities and their places substituted 
by the jewels of wisdom, love and truth, and by the beau- 
tiful flowers of generosity and benevolence. 

The government should bestow on every man who 
reaches the age of taxation, or the age of twenty-one 
years, an acre of land, not to be sold, but leased to him 
during his natural life, and if the young man is not able to 
put up for himself a neat house, his friends and neighbors 
should do it for him. 

Since coming here I nnd that people, as a rule, eat too 
much, and their food is not of the kind it should be. 
Now an acre of ground, put to good use — the best possible 
use — will nearly support a small family, and people should 
not have extremely large families. No man should toil 
more than four hours a day, the remainder of the time 
should be given toward cultivating some art or science, or 
all of them as for that matter. No person should eat 
more than two meals a day, and many can get along with 
one. If a man does not toil more than four hours a day 
a light breakfast and a good dinner is all that he requires, 



210 LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and he will find his brain clearer for the study of the arts 
and sciences. 

No intoxicating beverages should ever be distilled or 
sold, and it is a great sinful blot on the government that 
licenses are granted for the selling of that which takes 
away man's reason and fills his body Avith disease. When 
a man has an acre of ground and a good home, a faithful, 
loving wife and two or three sweet children, he ought to 
be good and happy, and the most of men would be. When 
men and women cease to be cannibals, that is when they 
eat no flesh, the cost of living can be brought down to a 
very small amount. Now, friends, suppose some of you 
try a method of living such as I will here suggest. 

We will say that already you are comfortably housed, 
that you have, at least, an income of six dollars per week, 
and your family consists of, say, five persons, perhaps 
father, mother, and three children; or it may be other rel- 
atives; suppose you sit down to a breakfast of oat-meal 
mush and a cup of coffee, the coffee really can be dis- 
pensed with, one would be all the better if one did not 
drink it. One-half pound of oatmeal will make breakfast 
for five persons, plenty, all they ought to eat; the 
oatmeal costs two and one-half cents, this feeds, and feeds 
well, five people; but when dinner time comes, we will 
have a greater variety, we will have bread, potatoes, to- 
gether with some other vegetable; vary the vegetables each 
day in the week, that is, we will have peas one day, beans 
another, onions another, squash another, and so on; then 
we will have fruit; vary the fruit each day if the season 
will permit; and nuts; vary the nuts likewise. Now a din- 
ner of this kind will not cost more than ten cents each 
person; so a good dinner for five persons will cost fifty 
cents, the breakfast and remaining household expenses 
would not exceed twenty-five cents, consequently a family 
of five persons can be well fed for seventy-five cents a day, 
and we think that even fifty cents a day could be made to 
cover the cost. If one had his acre of ground and house. 
free of expense, he could raise at least one-half the food 
necessary, which would bring his expenses down to twen- 
ty-five cents a day. 

Now, as a rule, people dress more expensively than they 
mi.ulit. especially women. Women should dress simply 
and neat. Diamonds, velvets, silks and satins are not at 
all necessary, and an enormous, costly head-gear would 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 211 

put a savage to blush. Many women can dress very well 
on twenty-five dollars a year; fifty dollars a year can be 
made to clothe a family of five if three of them are chil- 
dren. Two hundred dollars a year can be made to sup- 
port a family of five persons in comfort, and even a cer- 
tain amount of luxury, providing the acre of land and 
house are at their disposal; and if the government owned 
all public works whatever, every man who needed employ- 
ment could be employed by the government at the rate of 
one dollar for four hours' labor. Now I put the question 
to the government itself, if this would not be political 
economy? There would not be a really poor man or 
tramp in your land. All prisons and penitentiaries would 
soon die a natural death, and governmental institutions 
of learning would take their places. When men have 
homes and are properly educated, there will be no crime 
provided intoxicating liquors are not sold or distilled. 
Turn your great distilleries into temples of wisdom. Turn 
your churches into schools. Educate your young men to 
be as pure as you would have your girls. One should be 
as pure as the other. If a young man requires a pure 
wife, a young woman should require a pure husband. Oh, 
it would take very little, after all, to make the world good 
and altogether lovely and beautiful as it is here in the 
spiritual world. 

This may not be considered by some as being very elo- 
quent, but I feel quite eloquent on the subject. 

ROBERT G. LSTGERSOLL. 



.212 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTY-SIX. 



Men of earth strive to become rich and famous, and the 
moment they get here fame and riches fall away from 
them like black shadows. Not a penny of their money 
can they bring here with them — and fame? 

Well, there are many things that render a man famous 
on earth. Suppose he has made, as he thinks and as 
other men think, some great discovery, or he has invented 
something that is exceedingly useful, and his name rings 
from one part of the world to another; he comes here per- 
haps filled w T ith vain-glory, he is the great Mr. So-and-So. 
He is often met by a band of spirits, or as we here call 
them, angels, and he soon discovers that he, personally, 
had very little to do with the discovery or invention. It 
does not take him long to learn that he had simply been 
an instrument in the hands of this band of angels — that 
his only merit has been in giving himself up to his im- 
pressions, and those impressions had been made or pho- 
graphed upon his brain by those in the celestial life whom 
he now meets face to face — and his fame falls away from 
him like a shadow. It is foolish for men to wrangle over 
that which they imagine they have discovered; for no man 
ever yet discovered anything. He merely thinks he has. 
Everything has always existed and always will. He may 
have learned something which is new to him but really 
is as old as eternity itself. Then why seek fame? Let 
us tell you, men of earth, how to be happy. That is 
what you all want; happiness or heaven. Riches never 
yet made any man happy. Fame never yet made any nun 
happy; but, wisdom, love, and truth, will make all men 
happy. 

Well, what is wisdom? Wisdom is knowledge of thai 
which is true. Wisdom is tlio knowledge of inilli. and 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 213 

knowledge is obtained by seeking diligently after that 
which, is true — the correct understanding of natural laws 
as they really are, and if one is in the slightest degree un- 
happy something is wrong, there is some natural law that 
one does not yet fully comprehend. Let one seek for 
that law that one may understand it rightly. 

Nature intended that all men, as well as all animals, 
should be happy. Errors and ignorance have caused all 
the unhappiness and misery that mankind have ever 
known. A wrong conception of a future state of being 
has caused war, murder, and horrors of all kinds. Those 
who believe in a hell after death, make a corresponding 
hell on earth. Those who believe in a tyrannical male 
personality, whom they call God, become tyrants them- 
selves, crushing other men beneath their tyrannical hand. 
Those who believe in a murdered God, are filled with war 
and murder themselves; and all this is the cause of the 
wretchedness of mankind. Those who believe that natu- 
ral laws are beneficent, become beneficent. Those who 
believe that nature is a great loving mother, become lov- 
ing. Those who believe in eternal progression, walk 
steadily along a progressive pathway. Those who be- 
come loving will injure no one, neither will they injure 
themselves. When a man loves his brother as himself, he 
will do him every kindness in his power, and will divide 
with him even his last loaf. 

Let the poor man remember that he is far happier than 
the rich man. Let the loving man remember that he is 
far happier than the powerful, tyrannical man. Let no 
one aspire to place or power, for such create hell. Do not 
be a creator of hell or unhappiness. To be truly great is 
to be good, loving and wise. 

Well, friends, I am about to discontinue these letters 
for the present. Those who have accepted and believed 
in me I thank with all my soul. My greatest desire has 
been to benefit humanity, for certainly, no especial benefit 
could accrue to myself except the satisfaction of doing that 
which I should do; but, for the present, I have done 
enough. It is worse than useless to give to the world 
more than it can receive and make use of. 

A lady, knowing that I am about to retire from this 
work for a season, earnestly entreats me to allow her to 
take my place; and, as I find her a grand and noble wo- 
man, one whom I can trust entirely, I shall allow her to 



214 LETTEES FROM THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

become the guide or controlling power of my sensitive, for 
a time, at least. 

I cannot now say whether Mr. Ingersoll will continue 
his letters or not. 

Good-bye, my friends, and many thanks to those who 
have loved and trusted me. 

Good-bye! Good-bye! FRANZ PETERSILEA. 



PAI^T II. 



A Series of Letters From the Spirit of a Weff- 

Known Lady, Through the Miumship 

of (arfyfe Petersifea. 



LETTER NUMBER ONE. 



Good people, I make my bow. Indifferent people, I 
make my bow. Do you like me? We shall see. Who am 
I? I shall not tell you. How do I look? That you have 
a right to know. Am I large or small? Quite large, I 
thank you. Black eyes or blue? Neither black nor 
blue — brown. And your hair? Brown also, and very 
long and thick. How old are you? Somewhere near a 
hundred. Too old, am I? Wait until you know me bet- 
ter. I ran up the hill of age, but I have come back again, 
and I make you my bow once more. 

Do you remember me? Some of you may. Are you 
curious about me? Ah! You may discover me yet. 
What was my nationality? I tried hard to find that out 
for myself, but was not quite successful. Of one thing I 
was quite certain, however. I was not an American, yet 
America was my home for quite a length of time and I 
made many other countries my home as well. Was I 
nobly born? Yes. Was I happy? No. Did I marry? 
Yes. Had I children? No. Did I belong to any church 
or sect? Yes. What church? The Mother church. Do 



216 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

you say, that is enough; we Spiritualists don't want you? 
But you do. No people ever wanted or needed me more. 

A woman who lived on earth to be old, a woman who 
lived in many countries there, and became acquainted 
with many nations and peoples, who knew the inside 
workings of the Mother church, and who also well under- 
stood many other religions, one, too, who knew much 
about Spiritualism and who has already passed through 
the gate called Death, is wanted by you all, and you will 
admit it before I am done. 

Well, then, if you have passed through the gate of 
Death, tell us which religion is right. 

They are all right, and, at the same time, they are all 
wrong. Am I paradoxical? Yes; for life is a paradox 
and all religions are paradoxical. No man or religion on 
earth is entirely right, and no man or religion is entirely 
wrong. You tell us that you were not happy on earth: 
Are you happy now? 

That is an old, worn-out question, which would take a 
month of Sundays to answer. Happiness is something 
that needs to be analyzed again and again, and, when you 
are done, analyze it many times more. Are you all happy, 
my good people? 

Listen! I hear a big groan: No! No! But we hope 
to be after we pass through that gate, Death. 

And I laugh and point to another gate away in the dim 
distance and say, you must travel a long way and pass 
through that gate first. What is the name of that gate? 
and I say, Wisdom, and then I hear there are many, many 
other gates, and long weary roads to go. The best way is 
to seek the acquaintance of happiness just where joxl are 
at this present moment, and take her along with you as 
a companion to laugh and be merry with at all times. 
She will assist you wonderfully through the gate Death 
and make you joyful all the way across the field toward 
the gate Wisdom. Never let go her hand nor lose sight 
of her smiling face. 

Now, madam, you stand before us to amuse and instruct 
us; but, whether you instruct us or not, it is imperative 
that you amuse us. 

"Right, my dear people. Yes; I will do my best to 
.nil use and instruct you at the same time. 

Am T away up in the seventh sphere? No. 

Where then? Right here upon the earth, just at pres- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 217 

ent, in a room, in a house in Southern California, trying 
to write to the people whorr. I love, attracted to this sensi- 
tive, whom I am controlling to write for me, because many 
spirits have told me that here was my golden opportunity, 
and I have hastened to improve it. 

Have I seen God? ~Ko; and I don't trouble myself 
about him; don't think I care to see him. I have long 
ago wearied out of that great, egotistical, male potentate — 
Jehovah — Yahveh — Jove — or whatever his name may be. 
Don't you think it time that this great imaginary idol was 
demolished? It is just as foolish to worship an imaginary 
idol as a bronze or wooden one. Fact is, I prefer the 
wooden one, as doing far less mischief. Don't you think 
it about time to put a woman in Yahveh's place. There 
would be a modicum of sense in worshiping a woman. 
Could a great, male potentate, create the earth and all 
therein contained, all by himself? 

How preposterous ! There never has been the slightest 
thing in nature created without a female or the female 
element, therefore, have done worshiping that hydra- 
headed, male monster, Yahveh. I call upon all the 
women of the world to rise up and dethrone the great 
male idol. The egotism of a male is insufferable at all 
times, and by nature he is the inferior of woman, designed 
to serve her and the children she brings forth. If she 
magnanimously calls him her equal it is from the gen- 
erosity of her soul. 

Rise up, my sisters, pull down this great male idol, and, 
if you can't do any better, put a three-headed woman in 
his place. It is father, son, and holy ghost, with the 
mother and daughters left out. Now I propose that if we 
must have a three-headed God, we make it father, mother, 
and the holy bond between the two; which, to my way of 
thinking, are the children the union creates. The union 
is the creator or that which creates. The great, male 
monster, or idol, was never married, however, still he 
begets a son by coming down from his throne and 
seducing a woman. This great Yahveh becomes a 
seducer. 

0, how wicked and preposterous; consequently the 
greater portion of mankind are like their God, or idol. 
They are seducers of women; and, as a woman, if there is 
one thing that I despise more than another, it is a 
lecherous seducer of women. The Pope, like his God, 



218 letters from the spirit world. 

must be unmarried; the priests likewise. How long, my 
sisters, shall we allow this state of things to go on. Let us 
rise up in our might and dethrone this horrible monster. 

Very many men at the present day are better than their 
God, for they have wives and children that they love. 
Very few of them would cause their sons to be murdered. 
How unfortunate that they should still worship an idol so 
much lower in the scale of goodness and morality than 
themselves. 

An unmarried ascetic is considered by the Mother 
church — and in fact by many outside of it — as an un- 
usually holy man. In order to be exceedingly good, holy 
and wise, a man must not marry. But the question I 
would ask of you, my sisters, is: Of what good is such a 
man except as a blind leader of the blind? He ceases to 
take any part in creation and becomes a useless drone in 
the hive except as a propagandist of error, and he becomes 
a great egotistical Ego — a regular chip from his great 
male, egotistical idol. 

Now, when I look at such a man I feel like laughing. 
He amuses me immensely. What a great, purled up bag 
of wind he usually becomes. He really ignores the man- 
ner in which he was created and seems to forget that a 
woman ever had any part in it. He looks upon women as 
really quite unnecessary in the plan of creation, and often 
wonders why his g^eat egotistical idol created them at all; 
but, after much pondering on the subject, he came to the 
conclusion that she was a sort of necessary evil, a great 
temptation placed in man's way, to be repelled and 
resisted; a wily serpent in the guise of a female in his 
Eden. She was, of course, to be held in contempt and 
abhorrence; still he thought he might make some use of 
her as a kind of bond-woman or slave; and, after all was 
said, unless she worshiped him, who would? Certainly 
other egotistical males like himself would not; they were 
great Egos likewise, desiring to be worshiped as he desired 
to be. Ah, he had discovered another reason why she had 
been created — that she might fall down and worship him; 
and after awhile he came to the conclusion that she bad 
no soul. 

Ah! Forsooth: Nothing had a soul or existed after 
death except great, egotistical male Egos: and they sur- 
rounded the throne of their great, egotistical idol: N"o1 
a woman in ii. Sisters, T am telling you the truth and 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 210 

you know it. Of course it is a little better now; and, per- 
haps, even St. Paul thought that, possibly, she had a soul. 
I don't know that he says so anywhere, however; but he 
did not consider that she was fit to have a word to say in 
the church, but she must remain abased and covered, and 
if she wanted to know anything she must ask her husband 
at home, providing she had one, and if she had not of 
course she must remain in ignorance. Paul was too holy 
himself to think of marrying, but since I came to the 
spirit world I have discovered that he was a little like 
King David, who, as you all know, my sisters, was a man 
after God's own heart. Of course the great idol loved 
those best that were the most like himself. Do you think 
that St. Paul stands exceedingly high here in the spirit 
world? If you do you are mistaken; and on earth he was 
a squint-eyed, knock-kneed, somewhat deformed Jew, very 
short in stature, high-shouldered, with his head sunk upon 
his chest, his legs so short and his arms so long that his 
long bony hands nearly touched the ground; he had 
scraggy, unkempt, black hair; a long, thick, unclean 
beard; a hook-nose that resembled an eagle's beak, and a 
pointed, protruding chin; his brows were thick and cor- 
rugated, with hardly a forehead visible. He looks con- 
siderably better now, however. I don't think it would 
have been possible for any woman to fall in love with him, 
not even a slavish, Jewish maiden of the lowest degree. 

Now I am telling you the exact truth about it, and if 
you could know all about the most of the saints, you would 
dash your idols to the ground in horror. They are all 
idols, my sisters, every one of them — horrible, detestable 
idols — and your Roman Catholics and Protestants are no 
better than other heathen nations and not as good as some 
of them. 

The Hindus worship a better idol than you do. I said 
so when with you in the flesh, and I still say so. If there 
is one idol worse than another it is the Jewish Yahveh; he 
is the most cruel, the most vindictive, the most selfish, the 
most vain-glorious and egotistical; and it is claimed for 
him by his followers that he is the creator of all things 
that exist. When I have thought of him, and sometimes 
when I used to read about him I have often wished that 
my sister woman would drop out of creation altogether, at 
least for a hundred years or so. 

If women would drop out of the world, let us say for a 



220 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

hundred and fifty years, allowing the males to go on by 
themselves, how would it be with creation then? How 
many popes, priests and bishops would there be at the end 
of that time ? How many lordly Egos, chips from the old 
idol, would there be left? But perhaps you think he 
might be able to create others without the help of woman. 
If so, why does woman exist at all? No doubt many of 
those old lordlings thought, simply to perform the 
drudgery of bringing them into the world and suckling 
them that they might, in the end, rule over her. And, 
don't you think there is a slight taint in the old ideas left 
among the lordlings of the present day? To be sure it is 
somewhat better than it used to be, but there is a great 
chance for improvement yet— still woman brings forth 
man that he may rule over her, and he, like his idol, is a 
grasping, cruel, vindictive, selfish, egotistical Ego. 

Do you say I am hard and unjust in my statement? I 
will prove that I am not. Who loves place and power and 
will have them at any price? Man! Who rules the 
American Nation? Man! Who are Governors of states 
or provinces? Men! Who are sent to Congress? Men! 
Who are the ambassadors and ministers c-f state? Men! 
Who are the popes, priests and bishops? Men! Do 
women have any voice in making the laws by which they 
must abide? No! And yet without woman not a man 
would exist on the face of the earth — without her, there 
would not be a spirit nor an angel within the heavens. 
Woman does ten times more toward creation than man 
does. This is the natural law. For nine months she 
creates or nourishes the unborn babe, for a year or more 
thereafter, it draws its life directly from her vitals — in 
other words from her very heart's blood — then, for the 
next ten years, at least, the child is helpless without her — 
yea, even up to twenty years it can scarcely let her go. 
Who is the creator? I ask you in all seriousness, or who 
does the most toward creation, man or woman? Let us 
dethrone that monstrous idol, Yahveh, and place a better 
representative upon the throne. 

But we will say that while woman is doing all this, man 
cherishes and supports her, that is a part of them do. 
Admitted. We will also admit that he has qualities that 
offset hers, such as courage, strength and so forth; we will 
be magnanimous and say that he is her equal, setting one 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 221 

;hing against another, that together in oneness they are 
he creators. 

If we must have a God, a creator, an idol, let us have 
)ne who represents the truth as it is. Let us seat upon 
;he throne of heaven a Unity; a man and a woman side be- 
side, united in oneness of thought and purpose. If we 
^ould find anything in nature created without the male 
and the female principles united — if creation hung upon 
:he male element alone, we might still continue to worship 
the old male idol, Yahveh, or his representatives of a later 
date; but, as we cannot find such an anomaly in nature, 
let us be sensible and enthrone a God worthy of what we 
see around us. 

When we have dethroned the old male idol and en- 
throned the male and the female instead, woman will 
begin to find her rightful position in the world, for the 
world is like its God — in other words its idol is itself — and 
so long as that idol is a great, egotistical male, so long will 
man be like his God and rule over or dominate the female. 
But old things are rapidly passing away. 

Yours truly, MADAME 



LETTER NUMBER TWO. 



It is customary when one writes a letter or message to 
the public to commence it with, "Dear Friends." 

Now I shall not do what is customary; I will not speak 
that which I do not feel. The most of you whom I 
address and who will read this are not at all dear to me. 
Many of you I despise most heartily— all of you, more 
especially, who are hypocrites, sycophants, time-servers, 
those of you who love money and position better than 
truth. 

"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul?" for he who puts all his mind and 
energies toward the accumulation of material wealth, 
stultifies the spiritual, or his own soul, which becomes 
obscured in darkness and error. When one's soul is in 
error it is in unhappiness or hell, and that is all the old 



222 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

saying ever meant. I don't like people who are in hell; 
do you? I don't like hell either; do you? 

But there are some of you who will read this, who are 
in heaven or happiness; you have not lost your souls but 
have found them; and you I love; you are very dear to me; 
you are my friends; you who love truth better than error, 
better than all the wealth which'the world could give. 

When I was with you in the body of matter, I sought 
diligently to find my own soul, and was partly successful; 
not entirely, however. Now, I am here in the spiritual 
world, and much that was dark to me when in the body 
is now clear; but, if I tell you of my mistakes, the most of 
you who knew me there will not believe me. This is my 
grief. This is my sorrow. Oh, how can I undo that 
which I did. 

I will scold you; I will scold you all, hard. Why do 
you say the souls or spirits of men and women progress, 
after they go to the spirit world? And then when they 
come back and tell you of the things which they have 
learned there, tell you of the mistakes they made when in 
the body, you will not believe them; you say: "0, that is 
not the spirit of So-and-so; that is not what he or she 
taught when here with us." 

When that grand man, Robert G. Ingersoll, with much 
difficulty returns to tell you that he made some mistakes 
and tries to set them right, you scoff and say: "This is not 
the eloquent Mr. Ingersoll. He did not talk like this. 
He did not believe thus and so." How, then, can he do 
you any good? How can he rectify the mistakes he 
made? 

When Mr. Darwin discovers, on coming here, that he 
made mistakes when with you there, you scoff and say: 
"Mr. Darwin taught nothing of the kind when here," and 
although you say that you believe spirits return and com- 
municate with the people of earth, yet you do not believe 
them when they do come. They cannot rectify the mis- 
takes they made if they would; and you are commanded 
not to grieve the spirit, or spirits, but try the spirits 
whether they be good or evil. 

If you sat in your own parlor and an acquaintance or 
friend were ushered in, and when he was seated and you 
were conversing freely with him, he should say: "Since 
you saw me last I have been away to a far country. I 
have visited other nations and peoples, and I find that 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 223 

much which I formerly thought true about them is not 
so, that many mistakes have been made concerning them 
and their country, and that my former ideas were mostly 
incorrect," you should rise up and tell that friend that he 
was a fraud and a falsifier, that he must leave your house 
because that which he was now telling you did not accord 
with that which he formerly thought and said to you. 
That friend would have just cause to feel aggrieved and 
to resent your treatment of him; and that is the way that 
many of us feel here. We come to our own and they re- 
ceive us not. But you are to try the spirits to see of what 
manner they are. 

If a spirit comes to you who, when with you in the 
flesh, was good and true, and he tells you to commit all 
kinds of wickedness and can give you no information at 
all, in fact, if by his words he shows himself to be de- 
graded and vile, then is he false and a deceiver; and it is 
in this way that you shall know whether he be false or 
true, not simply that he has that to tell you which does 
not entirely agree with that which he taught on earth, for 
he has visited in person that other country and finds that 
much of what he used to think is not correct, and he 
wants to rectify his former mistakes. 

Then, again, many of you say the person who pretends 
to write for the spirits, to give messages for them, likes 
to quote great names. We don't believe the spirits who 
give these names are the spirits who once bore them. The 
great spirits don't come back at all. If they would 
just call themselves John Smith or Tom Jones, or some 
other ordinary names, then we might believe. 

What valuable information, let me ask, could such spir- 
its give you? Not much. They could simply tell you 
that they were not dead, that they still felt regard for you, 
and so forth; and then you cry out: "Oh, what drivel!" 
And so, no matter what we do, we may not please you. 

Thus, then, I take it in my own hands, so far as my mes- 
sages are concerned, to do as I please. You may accept 
me or not as you like; you may call me a lying and evil 
spirit if you wish. I will not mind you more than I 
would a fretful, peevish child that knows not what it 
wants and cannot tell what is good for it. When the per- 
sons whom you now call so very great were with you in 
the flesh, you scoffed at them just the same. You only 
called them great after they left you, then they have be- 



224 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

come too great to feel an interest in you at all, and so very 
far removed from you in their greatness that they could 
not come to you if they would. 

0, the inconsistency of the inconsistent! The greater 
one is, the more love and wisdom he has and the more he 
desires to do you good and share with you his knowledge. 
But owing to all that I have herein mentioned, I shall not 
tell you who I am. Those who love me and that which I 
have to tell them will receive me, and those who do not I 
need not trouble myself about. Enough to say, I am a 
woman. Many of you considered me great when I was 
with you, and some of you have almost deified me since I 
left you. 

Now, I want none of it. I was simply an earnest wo- 
man desiring the truth and with it to benefit the world. 
Did I have the truth? I thought so then, but now I look 
and find that, like most others, I had much chaff and a 
little wheat. Now when I return to you and try to blow 
away the chaff with the strong breath of my higher knowl- 
edge and conception of truth, the most of you will not re- 
ceive me but will persist in holding the wheat and the 
chaff together. However, I shall do what I can, and as 
opportunity presents. 

Friends, when I left the fleshly form I thought some- 
time I should take on another, and now that idea has be- 
come so ridiculous to me that I have no patience with that 
poor, plodding mortal which was myself. I look down 
upon that selfhood, sometimes in wrath, sometimes in 
pity, and again with much commiseration; but I think, on 
the whole, the feeling of commiseration and pity is para- 
mount. Now, friends, as well as my enemies, I want you 
to look at me just as I am. 

I am a very large woman, as large as a woman of earth 
who would weigh two hundred pounds, and when with 
you in the flesh I weighed much more than that. To you, 
as a spirit, I weigh, now, nothing; but as a spirit I weigh 
two hundred pounds; that is as clear as I can make it to 
you. I have had the experience of nearly an hundred 
years, and retain all the knowledge that they have brought 
me. Do you think, for a moment, that I would be con- 
tent to return, even if it were possible, and become a 
drooling infant once more — to live over again a plodding, 
wearisome, miserable earthly life? What good could it 
possibly do me under any circumstances? For the varied 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 225 

experiences many incarnations would bring me, do you 
say? Why, I have reached that altitude where I can enter 
into sympathy, and the full experience ami knowledge 
which it brings, of a million or more of different lives. 
What need for me to live them in my own personality? 
I live them now as I come en rapport with not only all the 
personalities of earth that I desire to, but the various 
spirits in the many spiritual spheres. But, whatever my 
belief was in the matter, reincarnation is not true but a 
great error, and I wish to correct that error, just as Inger- 
soll and Darwin wish to correct the errors which they 
taught and believed when in the flesh. 

Will you allow me to do so, or will you turn from me 
that I may grieve and say, I came unto mine own but they 
received me not? Do you say that the poor must live 
again on earth that they may be rich, or that the rich 
may be poor, or the murderer that he may be murdered? 
Out upon such folly! 0, how could I ever have believed 
it? How dark was my mind to spiritual things. 

The poor are rich and the rich are poor on earth. Ma- 
terial wealth has nothing to do with the spirit. 

And the murderer returns that more murders may be 
committed? 0, the folly of it all! I cannot bear to 
think of it now. The great natural lav/ says: Return, 
soul, and help to undo the errors which you were guilty 
of when in the flesh — guilty then through ignorance — 
now from your wisdom make restitution; for a greater or 
nobler work cannot be assigned you. Progressed so far, 
do you say, that I cannot come back? What good, then, 
is my progress? If I have learned anything and will not 
impart it to my brothers and sisters in the flesh, of what 
use then is my knowledge? 

If those whom you call great on earth should loftily say, 
I have great wisdom, and attainments, but I will not im- 
part any of it to those who are not as wise as myself. I 
am too far above them. Such talk is the merest twaddle 
and nonsense. But there are many other reasons why re- 
incarnation is utterly impossible. The chief and most im- 
portant reason of all is, that a soul-germ, or a germ of any- 
thing as for that matter, can never, under any circum- 
stances, after being once developed, return again to the 
germinal state; and every child born on the face of your 
earth, or on any earth, was, before being inhaled by the 
father, a spiritual or soul germ floating in ethereal space. 



22G LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Germs may not be visible to all persons, but they are to 
many, and I think all could see them if they felt inclined 
and would take the trouble, after throwing aside precon- 
ceived ideas and prejudices. Now, of course, as each 
germ can never be anything but itself and each child born 
on earth can never be any other than itself — a developed 
spiritual or soul germ — consequently you all perceive that 
a fully matured soul-germ could not enter the body of an 
infant, for that infant is a germ itself in process of devel- 
opment. 

We here in the spiritual world can see these germs at 
all times and in all places, so might you if you cared to 
look. 

Now Professor Franz Petersilea says to me: "Madam, I 
believe that I was the first to tell the world of these soul- 
germs; but I did not, perhaps, explain matters quite as 
clearly as you may be able to do. Do me the kindness, 
madam, to explain things in your own womanly way; for 
women are, as a rule, clearer, finer and quicker than men/' 

Well, then, I shall take my own way and tell you about 
it. We, here in the spirit world, know all that you are 
thinking, saying, and doing; and we know that many do 
not believe in the great truth of spiritual or soul germs. 
Some claim to be evolutionists, followers of Darwin, and 
so reason that the soul of man traveled all the way up, or 
down, from a speck of protoplasm or matter, and Mr. Dar- 
win is most heartily sorry, I can assure you, just as I am 
sorry that I taught the doctrine of reincarnation; and now 
I shall prove to all reasonable minds that I was wrong, 
and in proving myself wrong I shall also prove, as Mr. 
Darwin desires me to, that he was wrong. 

All physicians agree, as well as other learned men, that 
the human body changes entirely once in seven years. 
Many now think and say that it does not require so long a 
period of time. Be that as it may, we will allow seven 
years, and what these learned men assert is true. We, 
here, absolutely know it to be true. Now if every atom of 
matter within a man's body is renewed every seven years 
that is after seven years there is not one atom of the old 
body remaining, how, then, is it possible that the germs of 
his future children still remain, for every atom of his body 
has been renewed, and as each seven years roll around not 
an atom of the old remains and before puberty lie had not 
even the power of generation, such power did not reside 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 321 

within his body. Now, where did he get the new atoms 
which go to make up his new body every seven years? 
From the food he eats, from the water he drinks, from the 
air he breathes. Water alone will not sustain him. Food 
alone will not sustain him. Added to these he must have 
air, and plenty of it. He can live without food for many 
days. He can live without water for a considerable time; 
but he cannot live ten minutes in a conscious, breathing- 
state without air. Now, does he obtain the souls of his 
future children from the food he eats? His food is dead 
matter, devoid of soul or spirit. Does he obtain them 
from the water he drinks? No. The germs of the hu- 
man soul do not reside within water as water, but they do 
reside within the air; or, more properly speaking, within 
the ethereal or spiritual atmosphere which he inhales ai 
every breath. All the food he eats and all the water he 
drinks cannot even make blood until through the lungs 
the air comes in contact with it. You depend entirely on 
the air to even form the blood in your veins — and in 
seven years not an atom of the old body remains, not even 
a drop of the old blood. 

Now, answer me — a woman — ye great egotistical egos. 
From whence are the germs of the souls of your future 
children. I have cornered you and you cannot escape. 

Now, I will most solemnly answer: The soul germs of 
your children enter your lungs with the air you breathe, 
from the lungs they enter your blood, they pass through 
your heart with every pulsation, the germs then com- 
mence to clothe themselves with material substance in the 
father's blood. All hereditary tendencies come from the 
clothing the spiritual germ takes on, and are not in the 
pure spiritual germ itself. Heredity is all in matter, and 
not in the pure spirit. But these germs are as indestruct- 
ible as the ether in which they reside and those that do not 
find an opportunity to develop simply escape all environ- 
ments, just as the air and ether escape in which they re- 
side, from the lungs and from all parts and pores of the 
body. All germs which are simply clothed with matter 
in the blood of the father and do not find lodgment within 
an egg or ovum, the matter dies and drops away from 
them, for they themselves are indestructible, and they 
float away once more within the ethereal air. Now, God 
wot, I have told you the truth! It is a delicate subject for 
a woman to write about or I could tell vou much more: 



228 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

but you are all aware that there is an Anthony Comstock, 
so it won't do to talk or write of the things which might 
enlighten the world on the great question of how they 
came to be in existence. You must believe, perforce, that 
God created a man from the dirt, then took out one of 
his ribs and made a woman. Why did he not make her 
out of the dirt also ? 

Now you ask me: "But the female inhales germs as well 
as the male?" Yes; but she makes no use of them; they 
are to her, simply as the air she breathes. Nature is posi- 
tive and negative, male and female. The positive force 
holds and makes use of them, the negative force repels or 
exhales them. 

All creatures attract, hold and make use of the germs 
belonging to their own species or kind. An animal can- 
not hold and make use of the germs of human beings. 
Each attracts and holds its own kind. A germ which 
forms a grain of wheat cannot form corn, or maize; that 
is why things do not get mixed up more than they do. 
The old idea of pollen is nearly obsolete, for it has been 
iound that things blossom and form seed without it, and 
it never was the real cause of fecundity, and even if it were 
they would be but germs clothed with a little matter. 
Most botanists and florists do not now accept that idea as 
being the true theory of the formation of seed, for so 
many things have seeds that do not form pollen. What 
kind of a germ is that which forms a mulatto? If the 
father is a negro he holds the germs which develop ne- 
groes. If the mother is white the matter with which she 
clothes the child is white, but the original germ is black, 
consequently a mulatto is the result. If the mother is 
black and the father white, the germ is white, but the 
mother clothes it with her black blood, consequently a 
mulatto results. 

There is a great truth at the bottom of the old legend 
of Adam and Eve. "God formed Adam out of the dust 
of the ground," and if one could know the original mean- 
ing of, and language used by those ancient philosophers, it 
would not be far from the truth; for man's body is 
formed of material substance, while life resides within the 
atmosphere, and his nostrils breathe it in. 

Now I hope I have made it clear that reincarnation can- 
not be true, and yet when I was with you I was a blind 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 229 

leader of the blind. But why persist in blindness when 
you discover that it is possible to see? 
Most truly yours, MADAM 



LETTER NUMBER THREE. 



In my last letter I wrote of soul-germs, and I told you 
the truth, no matter that many of you think to the con- 
trary; and, as you see, reincarnation cannot be true. Now, 
I want to write you how it is with me here. I long to tell 
you, for many of you loved and trusted me when I was 
with you in the flesh, many of you remember and love me 
still, and many of you will be very glad to hear from me; 
but if I write to you, I must write as it is, regardless of 
your prejudices. When I first arrived here I was in much 
perplexity and trouble. It was not at all as I thought it 
would be, and it was a long time before I could see my way 
clear. Many Adepts and Mahatmas met me and shook 
me by the hand; then, a great many people met me, and 
were very glad to see me, and they said: "Now Madam is 
here. Come and talk to us," and I made reply: "I think 
it would be more appropriate that you should talk to me. 
What have you to tell me? You who have been here a 
good while," for I saw many that I had known years be- 
fore, and some that I had known in my early days, even 
the days of my girlhood. 

I looked at them all and was bewildered; but the 
Adepts and Mahatmas were uneasy and appeared to me 
rather sorrowful and crestfallen. 

"Come, Madam," said they, "and talk to us, that our 
souls may revive with hope." Then they brought me to 
a large hall and it was filled with people. Of course I 
mean spirit people, for they were all out of the flesh as I 
was, and there were many on the platform who were going 
to talk to the people, and they seated me on the platform 
with the others, and I was more bewildered and dazed 
than before. 

Then a Mahatma began to talk, and he asked how many 
of them had tried to rehabilitate themselves in the flesh, 



230 LETTEES FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

for the great law of reincarnation must be obeyed? And 
every spirit there raised a hand. 

"Yon have all tried, then?" 

A sighing chorus of assent was the response. 

"And all have failed?" 

Another assent more sorrowful than the last. 

"Have you exercised your will power to the very ut- 
most?" 

Another deep-breathed assent. 

"Let the person who has been here longer than any 
other, come forward and speak." 

A tottering old man slowly made his way to the plat- 
form. 

"How long have you been here?" asked the Mahatma. 

"A long and wearisome time," answered the old man; 
"but I cannot say just how many years." 

"When on earth vou dwelt in India — you were a Hin- 
doo?" 

"Yes." 

"And during all these years you have daily, almost 
hourly, tried your utmost to reincarnate yourself within 
the body of an infant of earth, that you might be young 
once more, that you might again be a child, a youth, a 
young man strong and vigorous? 

"Yes." 

"And yet you have not succeeded and are still here?" 

"As you see," dejectedly answered the old man. "I 
have spent all the time at my command, these many 
years, and yet here I am." 

"And you have tried in all countries and among all 
peoples?" 

"I have," answered the old man, wearily. 

"Tell us somewhat about it, that we may discover where 
the trouble may be, the hindrance or bar to success." 

"Well," said the old man, "at first I was full of hope and 
expectation. On earth I was poor and unfortunate, but 
not wilfully sinful, so I thought that in justice I ought 
now to be reborn into a family of high rank, consequently 
I sought out family after family where the birth of an in- 
fant was soon expected, and did my best to enter, or will 
myself to enter, its yet unborn body; but I found thai 
each child, even then, had an individual spirit and soul of 
its own, exactly corresponding to the growth of its little 
fleshly body, and it was impossible for me, an old and sor- 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 231 

rowful man filled with the experiences of three score 
years and ten — yea, even many more — to crowd my- 
self into the little, tender, budding body and soul of an 
unborn babe; the spirit and soul of the babe filled its own 
body entirely. 

"Well, I did not get discouraged for many a weary year, 
for I reasoned that, -perhaps another spirit had already 
taken the body for its own. Yes, for a long time I 
thought thus, then I tried many and many a babe at the 
very moment of birth, thinking I would enter its body 
with its first cry; but the child was its own self and I was 
another and distinct individual. 

"I felt more like taking the little wailing creature in 
my arms and comforting it; and I always went away 
balked and ashamed of myself. What had I, an old and 
experienced man, to do with a budding infant? I had 
been an infant once myself and did not need another expe- 
rience in that direction; but, during all my earthly life I 
had been taught and fully believed in reincarnation; and 
each time I failed I concluded that I had not yet discov- 
ered the right one — and thus my time has been spent." 

Tears rolled down the cheeks of the sorrowful old man. 

"I have now made my last attempt," he added more 
brightly. "I have ceased to desire to live another life on 
earth. I do not need another fleshly body. I am done 
with the flesh and I am confident that I should not now 
stand before you a dejected and withered old man if I had 
listened to the voice of reason within my own soul and 
spent my time in acquiring wisdom here in this spirit 
realm. Yea, I have seen many, who have been here a 
much shorter period of time than myself, grow youthful, 
bright and beautiful, and they said: 'Come with us. Re- 
incarnation is all a fable. It is not true/ But I re- 
mained firm in my conviction and they passed on and left 
me. 

"Would to God I had gone with them," groaned the old 
man. He then turned to me and extended his hand. "I 
am very glad that you are now here with us," he said, "but 
I fear we are in error." 

"In order to be wise and happy," I said, "in order to 
reach Nirvana, you need a great many varied earthly expe- 
riences." 

"Well, I thought so, too, but I am sorry to say I can no 
longer believe it. The power of my own soul begins to 



232 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

assert itself and I need not return into the flesh to gain 
knowledge or happiness. If I want to know anything I 
have but to put myself en rapport with one who does 
know that which I desire to know and the knowledge is at 
once imparted to me." He sighed. "Oh, how much I 
have lost in time — time in which I might have been gain- 
ing wisdom and happiness. "Madam," he continued, 
"take my advice and lose no valuable time tr}dng to rein- 
carnate yourself." 

But I was not yet ready to take the old man's advice, 
and he, soon after, left the hall. I turned to the Mahat- 
ma. "Have you been long here?" I asked. 

"Yes, for some time," he replied. 

"I should like to hear what you have been doing," I 
said. 

"You shall," he answered, with a low bow. "I have 
not endeavored as yet to reincarnate myself. The fact is, 
although I firmly believe in the truth of it, I still have a 
secret repugnance to the flesh. I really don't want to live 
again in it or on the earth. You ask me how I have spent 
my time? Well, Madam, I have been working wonders 
for the Yogis of earth. I have been trying my power as 
a spirit to the utmost, and when I tired of the Yogis of In- 
dia, I went to England and America. Ah, you shall praise 
me, Madam! My time has been well spent. I have been 
showing them what spirits can do." 

"Well, what have you accomplished?" for he interested 
and pleased me far more than the old man had. This 
man appeared to be in the prime of life and very powerful, 
yet there was a sinister expression about his face that I did 
not wholly like. 

"Well," said he, "I have materialized, as they call it, and 
made myself visible to many people. I have been per- 
forming wonders and miracles; playing musical instru- 
ments, ringing bells, rapping on furniture, lifting inani- 
mate objects in the air, also people; tipping tables, con- 
trolling various media in various ways; carrying various 
things from place to place. Oh, Madam, my time has 
been well spent; besides, I have delivered long lectures 
through many sensitive persons whom I could control, and 
you may be sure I have preached and taught the truths 
of our grand religion enough to satisfy even you;" and he 
bowed low once more; "besides, I lecture here to the spir- 
its as often as I find time," 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 233 

I did not then know why, but I felt uneasy. 

"But have you gained nothing new?" I asked, "nothing 
beyond all this?" 

He shook his head. "Nothing except that I have be- 
come very powerful— an Adept in all this work." 

"Do you find great pleasure in it? Does it satisfy the 
great hunger of the soul?" My own soul was feeling 
quite hungry about this time. He looked thoughtful and 
somewhat dejected, I thought. 

"Well, I have the satisfaction of proving immortality 
to the people of earth," he said. "That, surely, is of great 
importance." 

"Yes;" and I sighed also. 

"I am doing a good work. My time has not been spent 
in vain, like the old man's time, who has just left us." 

Yet this Adept did not satisfy my mind or even please 
me, and I could not discover much that was noble about 
him. 

"When you have done with all this," I said, "what 
then?" 

"Oh, the future must take care of itself. I cannot 
bother my mind about it. But you must come with me, 
sometime, Madam, and watch, and also help me with my 
tricks." 

Tricks! The word grated harshly on my ear. 

"Why call them tricks?" I asked. "You really do these 
things through the aid of an earthly medium." 

"Some of them," he answered. "Yes, all of them, oc- 
casionally; but I must tell you the truth, Madam. When 
I cannot find all the conditions favorable, I control, or in- 
duce by suggestion, the medium to do them himself or 
herself and, of course, when this is discovered the people 
call it trickery, fraud, and this makes me unhappy as well 
as the person whom I control." 

The spirits present were all listening to us eagerly. 

"Well," I said, "in that case, the medium is not alto- 
gether to blame. There is a great truth, then, in hyp- 
notic suggestion?" 

"Nothing can be more true," he replied. 

"Do you know, positively, of any spirit who has been 
able to reincarnate?" I asked. 

"I am sorry to say, dear Madam, that I do not; although 
I fully believe in the truth of it." 



234 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

"Then why do not you go, at once, and prove the truth 
of it?" 

"Because the idea fills me with horror. I do not want 
to," and he shuddered. "Madam, with all my power, 
knowledge and attainments, I will not, if I can help it, be- 
come a drooling infant once more, to wearily and sorrow- 
fully plod up through the flesh again — no not even to be 
a king, prince, or a multimillionaire. Madam, Madam! 
I hope I can be saved from such a fate." 

"Are you satisfied, then, to go on as you are, simply per- 
forming tricks and controlling media to preach that which 
you do not positively know to be true?" 

He shrugged his shoulders, and a murmur of dissatisfac- 
tion ran through the assembly. 

"Perhaps," I said, as a thought struck me, "your former 
lives have not been as worthy as they might have been. 
It may be that you must take a lower position than that of 
a human being. It may be that you have thought too well 
of yourselves, all of you here assembled. Have any of 
you tried to incarnate yourselves within the animal king- 
dom?" 

"Madam!" he cried aghast. "I have not tried, and I 
never will try, not even if I am never reincarnated again. 
My mind is, even now, trembling on the brink of despair. 
To simply perform wonders through a medium, Adept, or 
a Yogi, does not satisfy my soul; and you, also, Madam, 
will soon find yourself as unhappy as I am, or as the old 
man is. Not one of these people here has been able to re- 
incarnate, and we know of no one who has been able to do 
so, and they all begin to have grave doubts about the 
truth of the matter, although they strive to keep up their 
faith and hope; still, I cannot now see wherein we should 
be at all benefited. Very few here remain long in the 
faith, however, and my own soul is trembling on the brink 
of doubt." 

"Well," I said indignantly, "I know that reincarnation 
is a truth, and I am determined to be rehabilitated as 
quickly as possible." 

Most truly yours, MADAM 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 235 



LETTER NUMBER POUR. 



A lady now came forward and took my hands. 
"Madam," she asked, "do you remember me?" 
I looked at her searchingly. Surely, yes. It was Lady 
We shook hands warmly, then she embraced me 



with a kiss. 

"How glad I am that you have come," she said. "We 
need a leader, and just such an one as you are. You were 
born to lead and dominate .the minds of others. Your 
will power is exceedingly strong. You may be able to do, 
at once, what we have all, thus far, failed to accomplish." 

I looked at her in amazement. She had always been 
a large, strong, powerful, dominant woman herself; yet, 
here she was, not yet reincarnated. 

"Really, My Lady," I said, "I had expected better 
things of you. What is the matter? One would suppose 
that it would be easy to obey a great, divine, universal 
law." 

"Well, there's the rub. The law, as far as I have thus 
far observed, is not universal — that is, we find ourselves, 
as on earth, surrounded by thousands and thousands of 
people and not one of them, so far as I can learn, has been 
able to take on another body of flesh. Madam, I have my- 
self about given up the idea, but I was eager to see you. 
We were such old and good friends, you know, and used 
to think so much alike on all subjects. That is what has 
brought me here to-day." 

"Lady , I am surprised at you. Have you, in- 
deed, proved yourself so weak? 

"Well, I have come here to-day to see you, thinking 
that perhaps through you I might regain my former faith. 
But, really, I don't see how it can be. Look at me. Look 
at yourself. We are as large, nearly, as we were when the 



^r; LETTERS FEOM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

flesh covered us. It seems to me that I have simply 
stepped out of a lot of heavy, cumbersome clothing and 
ran away and left it. You know that is a way we women 
had — of unfastening our clothes, allowing them to drop 
upon the floor, and stepping out of them, while our maids 
took care of them. Look at me, Madam, look at my 
hands, my form, my limbs. I am but very little smaller 
than formerly. How can I ever force this big hand of 
mine into the tiny hand of an infant, or this large head 
and my long, thick, flowing locks into the head of a puling 
babe? Madam, I have tried; I find it impossible/' 

"But when we become less gross we shall lose these 
spiritual bodies," I said, "and shall become drops in the 
great ocean of spirit life — in the great ocean of God's life. 
It may be that we shall have to wait a long time before we 
return and take up another body." 

She shook her head. "Yes, we often used to talk about 
that, but I begin to think that we were egregiously mis- 
taken. Why I have seen angels who have been here in 
the spiritual realm for thousands and thousands of years, 
they are like very Gods themselves, filled with all manner 
of knowledge and wisdom; besides, they are not one but 
two as one; that is, these God-like angels are male and fe- 
male, two bright, shining forms united in love, wisdom, 
thoughts, words, deeds and purpose; to separate them 
would be impossible. You shall soon see for yourself, 
Madam. The union and coalescing of their minds, pos- 
itive and negative, form a battery, as one might call it, 
which emits pure and sparkling thoughts, sweet, heavenly 
and God-like, besides they are constantly performing 
great and good deeds. It is because I have come in con- 
tact with one or two of these that my faith has begun to 
waver." 

"And what do they say on the subject of reincarna- 
tion?" I asked. 

"They say it is utterly false, without the slightest foun- 
dation in truth." 

"Bah!" I ejaculated. They are lying spirits, trying 
to deceive you." 

She shook her head. "Can lying spirits be beautiful, 
bright and shining angels?" she asked. May it not be, 
rather, that we are mistaken?" 

_ "Then," said I, hotly, "where is the law of eternal jus- 
tice? On earth some are rich, others poor: some are 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 237 

slaves, others kings, rulers and princes, presidents and 
congressmen; there are lords and ladies; laborers and sew- 
ing girls; wretched women with drunken husbands who 
abuse them and the children they beget in sorrow and mis- 
ery, poverty and degradation; there are those who are 
married and those who are single; those who are loved and 
those who are unloved; there are pure women and those 
who are not so; there are good men and bad. I have not 
seen justice on earth anywhere. How is all this to be 
righted, tell me that? Some live in palaces, some in 
hovels; there are some women who are happy with their 
husbands, others whose lives are intolerable in the mar- 
ried state, while there are others who are so wretched they 
wish themselves dead every moment of their earthly lives. 

No, Lady . I shall still hold to my views. The 

great law of reincarnation only can make things right. 
It is only through this law that the suffering ones of earth 
can receive justice and recompense for all they have en- 
dured." 

The people were now listening eagerly to my words, but 
Lady still shook her head. 

"Madam," she said, "1 shall show you, bye and bye, 
things which I have seen. You speak of the law of jus- 
tice and recompense for the wrongs and inequalities of 
earthly life; but I have already seen with my own eyes one 
who was a crippled, wretched pauper on earth, owning 
and residing in an elegant mansion here, together with a 
beautiful lady, his wife. His limbs were crippled no 
longer, his form was erect, manly and beautiful, his face 
noble, his head surrounded by a shining light. I spoke 
to him. I asked him how he obtained all these things? 
and he replied: 

" 'I do not wonder at the question, Lady , for 

when you saw me last on earth, I was a wretched sufferer. 
Because of my crippled body I could not labor to obtain 
the material things of life and so became a pauper, but I 
cherished all this beauty in my mind — my soul was filled 
with it. I planned this beautiful mansion day by day, 
yet I did not then know that it would ever become real. 
I thought of myself as being symmetrically and finely 
formed. I dreamed day-dreams of a pure and loving wife 
who would share with me my beautiful home. I thought 
of sweet children — in fact, dear lady, I thought constantly 
of everything that was beautiful, pure and good, and 



238 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

would uot allow my mind to think of anything that was 
not good and beautiful. Then I thought, if I were not 
crippled and in poverty, of all the good I would do to 
those who suffered. My mind was busy all the time giv- 
ing of my imaginary riches to the poor and needy. Oh, 

Lady , as my body grew weaker these images grew 

stronger until they were so real that I was happy even be- 
fore I threw down the misshapen body, and I had scarcely 
left it when to my utter surprise and amazement I was act- 
ually here, as you now see me, dwelling within the crea- 
tions of my own soul, for all these things were spiritual 
realities, my thoughts were things — spiritual things — real 
to the soul as material things are to the material body. 
My spiritual form, dear lady, had never been crippled, and 
was as you see me now. ; 

"But your wife and children? I asked in astonishment. 

" 'My wife was also real. She existed on earth as I did. 
Not a cripple, however, for an accident befell me; but ow- 
ing to my misfortune we never met on earth. She was a 
poor, sewing-woman, and passed into spirit life in grief 
and poverty. There is a great natural law, lady, of coun- 
terparts, which you do not yet understand — that is, she 
was really myself or the other part of me and was in spirit 
precisely like the ideal that was ever present with me 
when in my crippled body on earth. She told me, when 
we met here, that she had always beheld me in her mind; 
that she had kept herself pure on account of this ideal, 
which has at length proved real. She is my wife. This 
is our home, at least for the present; but, lady, a grander 
palace yet awaits us, for it will be here according as we 
build/ 

"But the children?" I cried. How about them?" 

" 'We did not meet on earth to marry and have children 
of our own, that is, begotten through fleshly bodies; but 
there are millions of poor, little infants here, whose fath- 
ers and mothers are still on earth. We take many of these 
little ones, especially those that have no relatives to love 
and care for them. We usually take those that have boon 
repudiated, or cast off, because not born in wedlock. 
These little creatures, not being to blame in the least, thus 
find justice and recompense.' " 

There were others who had much to say while I re- 
mained in that hall; and I talked a little myself. I shall 
not go on with a continuous account of my experience in 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 239 

spirit life, but give a sketch here and there as occasion re- 
quires. It is the uppermost and all-important questions 
in the minds of the people of earth that I desire to an- 
swer; and I will answer them truly; I will neither falsify 
nor deceive any. 

How can I prove this to you? Simply by repeating 
the words that Jesus used, "By their works ye shall know 
them." I cannot always cater to preconceived ideas and 
stubborn prejudices and tell the truth; consequently, 
some may call me a blatant Ananias; but that will not 
make me such. Usually, the one who calls out such pretty 
names is throwing forth his own venom and is himself 
laboring under the most woeful delusions. 

Most truly yours, MADAM 



LETTER NUMBER FIVE. 



A lady has just written to our sensitive to know why the 
spirits do not help her? Why those on the brink of ruin 
are not saved? Why the spirits who can lift ponderable 
objects do not find gold and place it in mines or other 
places where she and others might find it? Why her 
father, who, as she says, is responsible for her being, does 
not come and help her, and do precisely as she desires him 
to do? That the spirits ought to do this, that and the 
other — that is to say, just that which she thinks they 
ought to do. That the spirit of Professor Franz Peter- 
silea must know that she is writing a letter, and that he 
ought to govern things so that her particular spirit friends 
shall come to her and do just what she asks them to do. 
Now I am not Prof. Franz Petersilea, as I have already 
told you, but as I am inspiring or controlling the medium 
at the present time, I presume what I may have to say 
will answer as well. Prof. Franz Petersilea has left the 
medium for a while, and certainly I do not know where 
he is, although he told me he intended to take a long 
journey. 

It would be impossible for a spirit to make any progress 



240 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

if such spirit were confined in one place or attached to an 
earthly medium for a lengthy period of time. 

Now, first, I shall say, it is not the province of mortals 
to command spiritual beings and tell them what they 
ought or ought not to do. 

Spirits are not to be put beneath the feet of mortals, but 
it is the province of the spiritual to instruct and guide hu- 
manity, neither can a spiritual being transcend natural 
law. I do not know this lady's father. I am not ac- 
quainted with her, and her relatives are strangers to me. 
How preposterous to think that the spirit of Prof. Peter- 
silea should know that she was writing a letter. Does this 
lady, and others, realize that there are many millions of 
beings residing on the earth at this moment? that there 
are countless millions of spiritual beings within the 
earth's spiritual spheres? that the earth and its inhabit- 
ants, together with its spheres and their inhabitants, are 
as but grains of sand in the great universes of space? that 
she herself is but a speck in the great universe of sentient 
creatures? that her father and her friends can only act in 
accordance with natural law? 

She intimates that because Prof. Petersilea can control 
his son, her father ought to be able to control her. 

Now I know nothing about these personalities. I only 
know this by coming en rapport with my sensitive at this 
time. I find it in the mind, as the medium has just re- 
ceived and read the letter from the lady; but I do under- 
stand the law which governs spiritual communication, 
and it is well that I should explain it, that all may under- 
stand as well as the lady mentioned. I also find that the 
medium has received many letters similar to the one of 
which we speak. One letter particularly, in which the 
writer states that he would like Prof. Petersilea to cause 
spirits — the spirits of his particular friends — to come and 
rap on the head-board of his bed, and they must rap 
Morse telegraph signals. There are many, many others 
who write that they do not believe in Spiritualism, but if 
the Professor will see to it that spirits come to them and 
do exactly as they may specify and desire, perhaps they 
will believe — maybe so — and if they were to change their 
minds they consider it would be the most important event 
that ever happened to the human race, for which the 
whole world ever after ought to be very grateful; and espe- 
cially will they be confering a great favor upon the medi- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 241 

urn by condescending to admit, after all these wonderful 
things have been done especially for their benefit, to say 
that they don't know but it may be so. They say that the 
Professor's letters sound true. I suppose by that they 
mean there is written within them many things which ap- 
peal to their sense of truth. 

Now, as before stated, I do not know these people and I 
do not think the Professor does, but I will go on and state 
how it is that the Professor is able to hold communion 
with his son. The father and son were, while the father 
still remained on earth, almost identical in their tastes 
and proclivities, both feeing eminent musicians. The 
father had almost absolute control of the son the greater 
part of his life on earth. The father and son, for many 
years, were associated together in the son's conservatory 
of music; they thought alike in nearly everything. The 
son was the very core of the father's heart, the apple of 
his eye, for the son carried out in detail that which the 
father had always striven to do but had not accomplished. 
The father did not become as great a player as he desired 
to be, the son became all that could be desired. The 
father had not been able to carry the business to a suc- 
cessful issue, the son accomplished all that the father de- 
sired to do. 

On just one point they differed. The father did not be- 
lieve in immortality, the son could not be made to disbe- 
lieve it. Unknown to himself there resided within the 
son great psychic powers, and this means that he was a 
greater sensitive than the father, more easily controlled by 
spiritual beings; and even in his early childhood he was 
controlled to play by the great masters in music, and at 
the early age of nine years played the most difficult music 
from Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart and many 
other of the grand old masters; but neither the son nor 
the father knew at that time, that it was spirit control. 
How well the father understands it now, and the son 
thinks he cannot be mistaken. The father went, at 
length, into the spirit world; and to his utter astonish- 
ment found that he still lived. The tie between the 
father and son could not be broken. The great sympa- 
thetic cord held the father and son firmly together. The 
father was a man of great determination. His earthly 
life had been a public life given to the teaching of the 
world, and this from his early manhood, studying first for 



242 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOKU >. 

the ministry, but repudiating the creeds, became an agnos- 
tic, afterward studying music, becoming a professor and 
teacher of that art, teaching the public all his life on earth. 

Now, as death could not break the tie between the 
father and son, and as the father had always controlled 
the son, he must still continue to do so — he must now 
make the son acquainted with all that transpired to him 
as a spirit — he must also still continue to teach the world. 
At first it was very difficult to overcome the son's preju- 
dice against Spiritualism. Not that he did not believe in 
it, but he well knew that it meant ruin to his financial 
success — that it meant ruin to him in his business — that 
the moment he proclaimed that his father's spirit had re- 
turned with messages from the other and higher world, 
that moment all his former successes would melt away, 
and the brand, "Spiritualist," would be upon him. 

Nevertheless, he bravely did it, because he could not be 
deceived nor mistaken in his father; and, as he well knew 
it would, the fashionable world feU away from him. No 
matter if he played like an angel— for the angels really 
played through him — or could teach their children better 
and more thoroughly than most others, he was a Spirit- 
ualist, and that was enough. Now this man has suffered 
untold agony, but he will never give up the truth. He 
has already sunk large sums of money in trying to give his 
father's messages to the world. 

Altogether, these things have ruined his business and 
his financial prospects; from being able to earn thousands 
of dollars a year, he can earn but a very few hundreds, 
and musicians far, very far below him in ability, talent, 
education and attainment, take the places that he should 
occupy because, forsooth, he believes in a great and eter- 
nal truth. But if this man comes to the door of starva- 
tion and passes through it, he will never give up that 
which he knows to be true, and he will struggle to give to 
the world that which the spirit world desires that he 
should give. He asks not money nor scrip, but as one of 
old said: "That which I freely receive, I freely give." 

Now, I have written out these details to show those and 
others, who have written the letters before spoken of, 
what it is to be a medium; moreover I wish to say right 
here and now, that although this man has for many years 
desired, as much as any of those who have written to him, 
rapping and some physical demonstrations, such as the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 243 

moving of ponderable bodies, he has never had even one; 
he has longed, as much as anyone could, to see a material- 
ized or etherealized spirit; but has never seen one. These 
messages that his father allows given to him, is all the 
phase of power that he knows anything about personally, 
although he believes that all things are possible to the 
spirit. 

Yes, this is true when conditions are favorable; but a 
spirit cannot go and rap on a headboard, rap out a tele- 
graph dispatch and so forth, unless there are conditions 
that enable him to do so. A spirit cannot go and place 
gold in a mine under any circumstances. A father in 
spirit life, who is responsible for bringing a child into the 
world, may, in his higher wisdom, know what is best for 
the child, better than the child can know, and may in his 
love withhold that which the child cries for, because it 
would harm it. One cannot always know what one's 
spirit friends are doing for one. What might by one be 
considered ruin, might really be for one's eternal welfare; 
but these spirit messages are not designed to cater to this 
one or to that, but for the world at large, that all who 
read them may be benefited and that newer and higher 
truths may be given to the world than heretofore. 

And now let me say to you one and all: Your spirit 
friends have something of more importance to do than to 
ever stand by your side, or under your feet, to do your 
bidding, to do just as you think they ought to do, to grat- 
ify your every whim, to ever stand ready to help you to 
grasp material wealth, for the richer you are in material 
things the poorer you will be in spiritual things. " What 
does it profit a man to gain the whole world and thereby 
lose his own soul? Cease trying to dictate to the spirits 
what they shall do, and what they are expected to do, and 
what they ought to do; and try to do something for your- 
selves. Probably if they did just as you desired in all 
things, you would repay them 'by calling them liars, de- 
ceivers, evil spirits and so forth; and if they would so de- 
mean themselves as to do all that you ask of them, they 
might deserve such epithets; and, certainly, if they would 
do just as you wish them to do, they would, perforce, be 
very ignorant, for they would have no time to inform 
themselves on any subject other than to delve in the earth 
after gold, or to put themselves below those of earth as 
servants to do their bidding. 



244 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Now, I am a spirit, and I am here with this medium, 
writing this message to the world. Do you think the 
medium tries to dictate to me what I shall write or what 
I shall not write? If that were the case I could not write 
at all. But I come and lay my hand upon the head of the 
passive medium and subdue the will entirely, then I gent- 
ly take control of the brain until it is my own brain, as it 
were, and then write my own words and thoughts and 
wishes. There is no benefit accruing to the medium. 

You who have written the letters herein spoken of, 
would you be willing to sit for hours and write for spirit- 
ual beings without even the faintest hope of reward — 
quite the contrary — laying yourself open to all manner of 
abuse, not even receiving or hoping for the slightest cred- 
it? and if the spirit in its higher wisdom said aught that 
conflicted with some one's supposed knowledge, to be 
called an ignoramus, one who attracted and was con- 
trolled by lying and evil spirits? 

Now, when you are willing to lay down your life like 
this, to bear with equanimity all such insults, when you 
are willing to give all without hope of reward, then, per- 
haps, the spirits will come near unto you and make use of 
you as an humble instrument to benefit an unwilling 
world; and after you have sat hours each day or evening to 
receive the messages, which can only be given in the 
merest scrawl, employ and pay an amanuensis to copy 
them all out for you and put them in proper shape for the 
press, then when your manuscripts are ready, carry them 
to the postoffice and pay at the rate of letter postage; all 
this out of your own pocket, without hope of reward; or, 
at least, earthly or material reward — quite otherwise- — do- 
ing the very thing that blights and ruins all your worldly 
prospects. 

You say in your letters you want to be mediums. You 
blame the spirits that you are not. Are you willing to 
bear all that I have herein written for truth's sweet sake 
without other reward than the still small voice which 
says: "Well done, thou faithful servant. Enter into the 
joys of thy Lord?" And what are those joys? Tell us, 
ye wise men. 

I hear some of you say the joys of heaven. Well, 
heaven is happiness. 

Material wealth never yet gave happiness to any one. 
The joys of heaven are love and wisdom. T<> !»<> wise 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 245 

is to be happy; to be loving is to be happy; and as rapidly 
as one gains wisdom lovingly give of one's store to 
brothers and sisters without money and without price. 

Would you, my friends, who have written these letters, 
be willing to spend a large portion of your time in writ- 
ing books, publishing them at your own expense, which 
means about five hundred dollars for five hundred copies, 
perhaps sell a very few after paying a great deal for ad- 
vertising them, would you be willing to do all this for 
truth's sweet sake? If so the spirits may use you as in- 
struments wherewith to help the world; and this not one 
year, or two, but twenty years, and still expect so to do 
for the remainder of your earthly life, and the money that 
pays for all this must be earned some other way, and the 
very thing you are doing hinders you from earning it in 
that other way. 

Friends, are you willing to do all this for truth's sweet 
sake? If you are, perhaps you may become mediums. 
After all I have said do you still wish to become mediums? 
If you do, I will yet tell you more. 

Are you willing to be slandered and called a "free- 
lover," and to be looked upon with horror and aversion be- 
cause the spirits write through you, that, in the spiritual 
world men are still men and women are still women, and 
that the union of the male and female constitutes a com- 
pleted angel or whole — which is as true as that the sun 
shines or the worlds roll in space — and this, not by the 
outside world so much as by the ones calling themselves 
Spiritualists, those who say they want the truth but will 
not receive it when it is given to them. More yet — are 
you willing to be repudiated by your nearest of kin and 
cast off by those whom you thought loved you, looked 
upon with aversion and contempt, because the spirit of 
your father wrote messages, saying that he still lived, and 
told you somewhat of his present life? Now when you 
are willing to suffer all this for truth's sweet sake, per- 
haps you may become mediums. Most truly yours, 

MADAM 



246 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER SIX. 



My life on earth was not an ordinary one. My life 
here in the spirit spheres is still more extraordinary. The 
influence of my earthly career follows me into the spirit- 
ual. I would that it were otherwise, or rather I wish I 
had made no mistakes in my earthly life. Those who set 
up for teachers should he very careful what they teach, 
for it is hard to undo that which they have done. I had 
"been here quite a length of time before I wavered in my 
belief in reincarnation. I was by nature very stubborn 
in my opinions, firm, one might say almost dogmatical; 
but when once convinced that I was in error I became 
enraged at the mistake I had made, and I can liken my 
feelings to nothing better than that I desire to crush the 
error under my feet and stamp it out; and this is about 
the way I feel at the present time; but when one finds that 
the errors which one taught on earth have followers by 
the thousands, then is one grieved to the soul, for now, 
even if one y ould, one finds it most difficult to counteract 
such errors, for the followers say: "Madam taught us thus 
and so," and if I come back and say I now find that I was 
mistaken, they will not believe that it is I, but rather that 
the medium is a falsifier, or that the control is a lying 
spirit. 

Ah ! I sigh deeply, for my heart is much grieved. But 
it is useless, for that which is done cannot be undone. I 
can only hope now to do all in my power to counteract 
the errors with truth, trusting that a few will believe me, 
and it is to these few that I shall now talk. 

I shall not enter into the details of meeting my own 
particular friends and relatives, for that would be of no 
especial interest to the general reader; but I met them all, 
or all whom I desired to meet, and then once more, as 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 247 

I had done on earth, I wanted to carve my own way, hew 
my own path, find out things for myself and in my own 
way. 

No matter what Lady had said to me, no mat- 
ter about the Mahatma, or the Old man, or all the others 
whom I met, my way was not their ways and so my own 
real character asserted itself. I made many, very many 
attempts myself to become re-embodied, only to meet, on 
every and all occasions, with signal and unequivocal fail- 
ure. 

At last my eyes were opened to my own folly, and when 
once they were opened I looked with surprise and disdain 
on my former self. Could it be possible that I had ever 
been so foolish? Ah, me! Yes, I had been, but it was the 
folly of a child, for my earthly life by this time had re- 
solved into that of a childish rudimentary state, the very 
first rung on the ladder of existence. This thought com- 
forted me somewhat, but the higher I climbed the more 
careful I would be and take better heed to my steps, place 
my feet more firmly on the rock of truth. When at 
length I became fully convinced that reincarnation was 
wholly without foundation in truth, I was eager to meet 
with various renowned men and women, who had, like 
myself, been teachers and reformers of earth. Lady 

was only too glad to be my companion, go with me 

and help me in my quest. She had for many years of 
earthly life been a true and faithful friend and trusted 
confidante, and we now seemed to take up anew the 
broken thread which had run through our earthly lives; 
and we found that all broken threads, or threads that 
seemed to be broken by so-called death, were again taken 
up here, so that not a single thread was broken after all, 
it was only in the seeming or rather some threads were 
taken up for a season, that a beautiful pattern might be 
the result when they were once more woven in with the 
web of eternal life. So it was with Lady and my- 
self. Now someone will ask: "Did you not go and live 
with your former husband, the husband you had on 
earth?" 

Now, you do not want me to be a lying spirit, do you, 
and say that I did at once? for if I did not I might be 
countenancing free-love or bigamy. Well, whether you 
say this or not, I shall tell the truth at all hazards. 

No, I did not go and live with my former husband. He 



248 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

was altogether hateful to me, and I would much have pre- 
ferred the old reputed hades to companionship with him. 
I did not even seek him, or try to know anything about 
him, and if I had seen him coming in one direction, I 
would immediately have taken the opposite one. 

Husband, do you say? Why, my soul had never been 
married, and I had really been as much alone as though I 
had never taken on the bonds of so-called matrimony; 
and, as no one came forward to claim me as an affinity, I 

still remained simply Madam . I did not affinitize 

very readily with the opposite sex when on earth, and I 
did not seem to take to it here either. I am simply re- 
lating my own experience, not that of others. Thou- 
sands of former husbands and wives were reunited here, 
but there were exceptions to the rule, and I was one of 
the exceptions. Thousands of others were drawn to- 
gether here through natural affinity, but here, again, I 
was one of the exceptions. 

So Lady and I thought we would be compan- 
ions in our search for truth until that truth should sever 
us. We really did not know how long that might be, 

Did not Lady meet her husband here ? 

No; he was still on earth and cared no more for truth 
or spiritual things than did his ox. He thought of little 
else than to eat, guzzle wine and beer, and when he should 

die he would know no more forever. And so Lady 

and My Lord were separated. She found no pleasure in 
being near him, and his brain was too coarse and stupid 
to be impressed by her gentle spirit. 

I always pitied her when we were in the earthly life, for 
she never dared to show what her feelings really were to- 
ward him, while I openly flouted my unnatural and most 
unhappy marriage. 

So Lady and I joined hands in friendship, and 

together went in quest of truth, that sweet, pure, coy 
maiden Truth; as beautiful as she is pure and simple. 
Truth and Simplicity are twin sisters, and are ever found 
in each other's company. Remember that, all ye esoteric 
teachers. 

But Lady and I found ourselves without homes, 

and I said to her: "Where have you kept yourself since 
you have been in this life?" 

"Oh, I have been visiting round in various places," she 

and relatives, and have not, 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 249 

as yet, provided a separate home for myself. You see, 
Madam, I am alone, and have not felt the need of a special 
home for myself. You have also visited many of your 
friends here, have you not?" 

"Certainly/' I replied, "all whom I care to visit. But 

3'ou know, Lady , I have always been an odd stick 

among my friends, never agreeing w T ith them on any point 
whatever, and I find the same old thread running through 
the web of my life. My friends were all devout Catholics 
in the lower life, and I find them changed but little now, 
and the most of them are here in this life." 

"Yes," she said, "so are nearly all of mine; yet, as you 
know, I have a husband, two sons and a daughter still in 
the flesh. But daughter is married, with grown children 
of her own. My sons are both married, but the eldest, the 
heir, has lost his wife. She is here somewhere among her 
friends, but I have not yet met her. She disliked me 
very much because I had become a Hindoo, or Buddhist, 
as she expressed it, and I doubt if she would care to see me 
even as a spirit. So I have not sought her out. Why 
should I, pray?" 

"Really, Lady : , I don't know why we should or 

should not do anything. Perhaps we shall know better 
about it after awhile." 

"Well, we ought to have a home somewhere, ought we 
not? I am getting rather way-worn and, weary. It is 
all right, no doubt, for some to talk about eternally fly- 
ing through space, or ether, I think they call it now, fly- 
ing eternally through nothingness and progressing eter- 
nally toward nothingness. But I am made of different 
material, and feel like flopping down and wobbling about 
like a fledgling just leaving the old nest. No doubt I 
shall be able to fly all right by and bye. But I am broken 
on this great wheel of reincarnation. I have believed and 
trusted in it so long that I must have time to gather my- 
self together before starting out on an endless and eter- 
nal journey, as it now seems to me. I do not know even 
how to build a home, or how to take care of it when it is 
built." • 

"Well, Madam," said Lady , "I feel somewhat as 

you do. Surely two lone women like us need not take the 
trouble to build. Do you know, dear, I feel very home- 
sick and would like much to live on earth in a home as of 
yore?" 



250 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

"Those are my sentiments exactly/' I cried. "And if 
all the Spiritualists on earth rise up with one acclaim and 
call us earth-bound, that is precisely what we will do. 
Is there any reason why we may not become acquainted 
with truth by mingling with the wise and good of earth, 
even if we are spirits?" 

"I will tell you what we will do, Madam," said Lady 

enthusiastically. "We will spend a large portion 

of our time seeking out some of the wisest and best of 
earth, read what is in their minds, then we will seek out 
some of the wisest in the spirit world and see how nearly 
they agree, and if those of earth are not right we will do 
our best to set them right — we will be mediums or go-be- 
tweens. That will be even better than to be reincarnated." 

"You are right," I exclaimed. "But where, in the 
meantime, shall we make our home?" 

"I have it," said Lady , brightly. "You remem- 
ber my estate, away in the wilds, in the province of , 

Russia. It is entirely sequestered and very beautiful, that 
is, it always seemed so to me. I used to visit it as often 
as I could and stay as long as possible. My two sons use 
it now as a retreat during the hunting season, but none of 
my family are there more than three months out of the 
year. No one lives there for the remainder of the time 
except the game-keeper, together with his wife 
and daughter. They occupy a little lodge near 
by. So the mansion is large, lone, and empty the 
most of the time. Let us go there and set up housekeep- 
ing," and she laughed. "We can rest in the beds and they 
will not require to be made up. We can occupy the rooms 
and they will never need to be arranged or put in order. 
We can walk whenever we please in the grounds, without 
being seen or molested. We can come and go at our 
pleasure without attendance! Why not be earth-bound 
for awhile and make that beautiful old estate our home? 
Earth-bound spirits are not always wicked, ignorant or 
vicious. We think ourselves very good spirits, do we not. 
Madam? Certainly we would harm no one, and from 
there we can make our journeys long or short as we 
please." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 251 



LETTER NUMBER SEVEN. 



I was delighted with her proposal, and shortly there- 
after we found ourselves comfortably established in the 
large, untenanted house, where we flitted through the 
rooms back and forth in high glee, in and around the 
grounds and over the tree tops, as suited our pleasure. 

I have written out this truthful account, that those who 
read can see how it is that many old untenanted houses 
have the reputation of being haunted; for any and all 
spirits can do just as we did if they choose, and if there is 
an Adept or Mahatma, or even a Master of Black Magic 
among them, or if they can gain the services of such an 
one, very wonderful things can be done in order that the 
spirit or spirits may remain in the place unmolested, for 
when an earthly family live in a house it is filled with the 
magnetism and spiritual emanations of the inmates which 
is often not agreeable to the spirit or spirits. You of 
earth can readily see how this is. Now some spirits can 
remain thus for years without making any appreciable 
progress or becoming much wiser than they were on 
earth, or in the flesh rather, for they are still upon the 
earth, and there are millions of spirits who remain at 
statu quo for long periods of time. There are millions of 
other spirits who attach themselves to those still in the 
flesh, remaining with them for a length of time, and they 
are of all grades; good, bad, and indifferent. Of course, 
there comes a time when they must leave, for conditions 
change and time goes on. And I want to say right here, 
that those who think they remember a former incarnation 
are simply possessed by some spirit for the time being, and 
it is the memory of the spirit reproduced upon the brain 
of the sensitive. 

Suppose, for instance, Queen Elizabeth wishes, for pur- 
poses best known to herself, to be en rapport with a sen- 
sitive. Elizabeth remembers her past life and her mem- 



252 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

ory impinges upon the brain of the medium or person 
with whom she comes en rapport, the sensitive, not be- 
ing able to distinguish, thinking it the memory of a for- 
mer incarnation. And I find this to be more universal in 
the old world than the new. It has become about as 
bad as the plague. 

In India the spirit of Buddha, or some other spirit 
claiming to be Buddha, perhaps some Mahatma who 
wishes to create a sensation and gain authority over the 
people, speaks through the lips of a child, saying, "I am 
Buddha." Immediately all believe that Buddha is rein- 
carnated within the body of the infant. 

But this is not so. Let me tell you, my dear earthly 
friends and adherents, this is not so, but a spirit who is 
attaching himself to the child, for the purpose of gaining 
his own ends. Such a spirit will often dwarf the spirit of 
the child to its harm. But the law works both good and 
evil, as one can see. 

If a large-brained sensitive is controlled by a grand and 
noble spirit, who only desires the welfare of mankind and 
wishes to do nothing but good, and teaches wisdom, then 
the law works for good; but if a bad and selfish spirit con- 
trols a sensitive, t..en it works harm. 

Many who read this will say: "Madam, why did you 
try so soon after reaching the spiritual life to become re- 
incarnated, for you must be aware that fifteen hundred 
years might pass before you could or would reach the 
point where it became necessary to take on another earth- 
ly form? You, certainly, as a Theosophist, would hope 
to rest for a long time." 

My dear, unsophisticated friends, it was just here where 
I found I had been mistaken. I found no rest in the 
great ocean of Divinity, but simply as I tell you, I found 
myself with a spiritual form and in a very active state in- 
deed. My old Theosophical friends had not found rest. 
They were all distinct personalities, and extremely active 
ones at that. So, as I did not find the conditions that I ex- 
pected, and as my friends had not, our very next thought 
was to reincarnate as quickly as possible, as we could not 
expect to reach Nirvana until after many incarnations. 
So, very naturally, according to my belief, I wanted to re- 
incarnate as quickly as possible. 

My dear, dear friends and readers, Theosophy is a hin- 
drance to progress, and 1 am exceedingly Borry to say it. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 853 

It takes one who is rooted and grounded in the faith such 
a very long time to give it up; and yet there are many, 
very many great jewels of truth embedded in its teach- 
ings: For instance, the great eternal, rhythmical law of 
seven, and the more simple law of three. Friends, do not 
laugh about a three-headed God, for there is a great, 
grand, eternal truth underlying the idea. The real mean- 
ing is, father, mother and product or child. Spirit, mat- 
ter and soul or intelligence. The male and female in 
oneness, producing the son or child. When two prin- 
ciples in nature are joined, a third or product invariably 
leaps forth. Now shortly after coming here I felt very 
much as a person would on visiting a foreign land, one he 
thought he knew all about, supposing he well under- 
stood the manners and customs of its people; and he had 
made up his mind precisely what he should do, how he 
would live; and all the particulars of his life lay in de- 
tail before the eye of his mind. When he arrived in that 
country, it was not at all as he had thought it to be, but 
entirely different excepting some few points. That per- 
son would be obliged to adjust himself or herself to the 
country as it really was, and to the people as he found 
them. 

Well, that was just as it was with me. It was not as I 
thought it to be. This is all the apology I have to offer 
for not doing as one would have expected me to do. 

At this point some one asks: "Well, Madam, how did 
you find it ?" and to answer that question is the purpose of 
these letters, and from this time on I shall proceed to 
do so. 

First, then, to rest in the bosom of the Infinite is an 
utter impossibility. Why, nothing is ever at rest — no, 
not for an instant. Rest would be utter oblivion or anni- 
hilation. There is no rest anywhere in nature, or all its 
vast and countless systems of worlds. Not an atom of 
matter is ever at rest. Not a spark of spirit. Not a 
thing that lives or moves or has a being. Not a flower, 
leaf, tree or twig. Not a world that rolls through space. 
Not a spirit. Not an angel. Not God; for God is all. 
So you perceive by this that a spirit cannot rest. It must 
forever go on. Neither can it return to any former es- 
tate, no more than a human being can return backward, 
day by day, to youth, childhood and infancy. A day or a 
week once past can never be lived over again, except in 



254 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

memory. They have left their impress forever upon the 
soul who has lived them, which once developed can under 
no circumstances, become undeveloped, and I was now 
developed as a large, spiritual entity, having cast aside 
my covering of coarser matter; yet I still had a covering 
of matter, but it was extremely Spiritualized and refined, 
and nature still forced me onward — no return, no going 
back — I was not to be any other person through the eter- 
nal ages but just myself. 

And now there came a soft whisper within my inner 
consciousness: "Are you, a wonun, complete within your- 
self? Is there nothing lacking Do you feel that you 
are whole and perfect?" 

And I saw written in the ethei before me as in letters 
of fire: "And they twain shall be one flesh: And they 
twain shall be one." The word flesh had disappeared for 
it had not been written in the ancient language. I 

looked at Lady , and she looked at me, for she also 

had seen the writing quivering and burning in the ether. 
"Let us make man in our image. Male and female cre- 
ated he them," or as it should read: "Male and female 
were they created. And they twain are one." 

"Well," said I to Lady , laughingly, "we are two 

females and not male and female." 

"Well, cannot we go on and attain wisdom just the 
same?" she asked, a little pettishly. 

"We will certainly try," I responded. "I don't know 
what more we need. We are keeping house here very 
comfortably." 

"In heaven they neither marry nor are given in marri- 
age, but are like the angels of God/' quoted Lady , 

triumphantly. 

"Well, there is the rub," I said. "We don't yet know 
how it may be with the angels. That they do not marry 
like people of earth, I feel quite sure, that is, no third 
party marries them, nor are they given in marriage by 
parents or guardians as you and I were. But we must 
first find out all about the angels of heaven before we are 
justified in saying that they are neither male nor female, 
for if they are in the image of God, male and female, and 

they twain shall be one" — and I stared at Lady 

with round eyes — "why, perhaps they are united after all 
— perhaps that is the real meaning of: 'But are as the an- 
gels of heaven.' " 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT VORLD. 255 

"Oh, well," cried Lady . a little more petulantly 

than before, "one can make quotations from the Bible, 
mean almost anything. Just think how that old book, or 
books, has been twisted to suit and prove anything and ev- 
erything that one might wish. I am not going to run 
around after an affinity, even if I am a spirit." 

"Nor I; most emphatically not. We are going to dis- 
cover, if we can, how it is with the angels, and what con- 
stitutes an angel." 

"Why," cried Lady , an angel simply means a heav- 
enly messenger. I really believe we are as much in the 
dark as ever." 

"Well, one thing is sure: We are two women, females, if 
it pleases you, and we are not males in any sense of the 
word. We are just as much women as we ever were in the 
flesh, and I don't feel in the least like becoming some- 
thing that is neither man nor woman, do you?" 

"I am certain I do not. The thought is exceedingly 
distasteful to me." 

"That may be because we are as yet so crude and unde- 
veloped as spiritual beings." 

"Yes; it may be," she asserted. "It is very puzzling, is 
it not? That man, the former cripple, said that there was 
a great law of counterparts, and he seemed very happy 
with his wife, so-called." 

"Oh, well," I sighed, "he may be simply an unpro- 
gressed spirit, not an angel." 

"True," replied Lady — — , "but you and I, dear 
Madam, have not known true love and companionship 
with one of the opposite sex. My husband was no more 
fitted to be my companion, than a dog in his kennel. I 
used often to think the dog the more noble brute of the 
two, for I scarcely ever saw my husband sober. It was 
tipple, tipple, from morning until night, when he always 
went to bed in a drunken stupor. As for love; he did not 
know the meaning of the word. And you, Madam, what 
love and companionship have vou ever had in the earth 
life?" 

"None, whatever," I replied. 

"Don't you think that we have met with great in- 
justice?" 

"That cannot be denied." 



256 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER EIGHT. 



Lady and I remained in this beautiful and quiet 

retreat for quite a length of time, until we were fully 
rested from the weariness caused by all the cares, turmoil 
and strife of our earthly lives. But we were not always 
free from callers, for a great many spirits knew where we 
were and would often find their way to our peaceful re- 
treat. 

Now, at this writing, I desire to tell the people still in 
the flesh that they ought to laugh more and be jolly, or 
rather, happy. Don't mourn over the woes of the world 
too much. All the mourning in the world will not alter 
the course of nature or change events in the least, any 
more than sanctimonious prayer will change the mind of 
so-called Deity. Laugh and be merry, but let your mirth 
be as pure and innocent as that of a little child, or as that 
of a laughing, smiling young girl, whose innocent heart 
knows no guile. 

Do not say, "Ah, I am growing old. Death will soon 
be here." Laugh and be merry. Meet Death with a 
smile and he will be as gentle with you as a mother with 
her laughing babe. But Death is a misnomer. Transla- 
tion is the better word. 

Much of this I taught while with you in the flesh, and 
every word of that now gives me great satisfaction and 
pleasure. My friends, don't worry about anything. Ev- 
erything comes right after a short time. Wait a little and 
be patient; laugh and be merry. Think about the time 
whicli will come sooner or later, when everything will be 
right, at the same time put a helping hand to the car of 
progress and aid with a smiling face and hearty good will 
to push it toward that which is higher and better. If you 
have made mistakes — and who has not — do not be 
ashamed to admit it. Do not stubbornly hold to the mis- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 257 

takes because you have made them, for therein lies your 
folly, but give up your mistakes with a smiling face and 
hearty good will. Mistake is the great teacher of wisdom. 
A child learns how to walk bravely, owing to the falls it 
has met with; but do not fall heedlessly and sink in the 
mire without effort to recover and retrieve your fall; but 
if you have made a mistake, or met with a fall, rise as 
quickly as possible, shake off the dust as clean as you can, 
and march onward with merry good cheer. 

I have written these few lines to show how I felt after 
my refreshing rest in that lovely retreat before spoken of. 

We might have remained there for a long period of 
time, but inactivity was not in my nature, and I wanted 
to be engaged in some good, grand, noble work. I wanted 
to continue in the same line of work that I had been en- 
gaged in before leaving the flesh, barring my mistakes, 
and Lady was of the same mind. 

It was truth we wanted, unmixed with error, and our 
mistakes ought to and should make us wiser. So hand- 
in-hand we left our retreat in quest of wisdom and to do 
good and help all we could — help the earthly world, help 
the spiritual world, help everybody and everything we 
could help — and when we wished or became very weary, 
we would retire here to this quiet spot, unless we found 
one that was better suited to us. Now we two lone wo- 
men, hand-in-hand, journeyed forth out into the great 
world of spirits. We were a little timid, one may be 
sure, not knowing what we might encounter. But to find 
out the truth of everything. This was our one great and 
mutual desire. Sects, creeds, fads; fashions, societies, 
great names, pompous, egotistical Egos, so great in their 
own conceit that they thought it impossible for them to 
make a mistake, all — all sunk into nothingness before the 
one great name Truth. Truth, truth ! That is the main 
thing. All else is as nothing. 

As I have already said, Lady and I had made up 

our minds that we would visit those of earth who were 
seeking truth, find out what they wanted to know, then 
make it our business to go and discover the truth, or be 
taught it by wiser spirits and returning give it to the hun- 
gry ones of earth. Now we naturally, according to our 
wish or the desire of our souls, found ourselves ascending 
into high regions above the earth, until we had reached 
an altitude of perhaps fifty miles. As we floated buoy- 



258 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

antly through the atmosphere it did not seem very differ- 
ent from what it had when we were in the body. We 
were different, to be sure, but the atmosphere was the 
same except there was visible to our spiritual sight much 
that had not been to the earthly sight, that is, we per- 
ceived that the atmosphere was thick with emanations 
from earth. The first and most material emanation was 
from the waters of the earth; this was the cloud region, 
but before forming into clouds it was simply a vaporish 
emanation at a certain altitude above the earth. This va- 
porish emanation, according to its affinitizing attraction, 
condensed into clouds and as they became more and 
more condensed by their own inherent attractive power, 
and by the pressure of the air upon them, and by the 
winds blowing them together, they become so heavy that 
the earth attracted them more and more until they fell 
upon it in the form of rain. 

"Well," you say, "every school-boy knows this," but 
there was another thing we noticed that no school-boy un- 
derstands. This vapor had a third quality or power that 

neither Lady nor myself had ever known of, a more 

ethereal, finer portion did not condense, but continued to 
ascend. 

We looked at this ascending vapor in utter surprise. 

"Where do you suppose it goes?" asked Lady , 

with curious eyes. 

"I am sure I don't know," I answered.- Let us follow 
it and see." 

So fixing our eyes on a large and beautiful mass, gauzy 
and thin as the veil of a bride, we followed on oblivious to 
all else. 

'"Gracious!" exclaimed Lady . "Look! look, 

Madam!" 

But there was no need for her to bid me look, for my 
astonished eyes were, like her own, fixed on a placid and 
beautiful sheet of water that the vapor was rapidly falling, 
or merging into. But this lake was not dense like the 
lakes of earth. How can I make it clear to you? It was 
a spirit lake, made up of this third principle that I spoke 
of. I shall not give it a long, hard, not-understandable 
name. Let the erudite ones of 3arth do that. It is not 
names I want to give you, but truth; and the day will 
conic when this which I (ell you will be proved true, for 
il is Truth. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 259 

"What does this lake rest upon?" said I; and as we 
looked we perceived that it rested on top of the earthly 
atmosphere as water of earth rests upon the material 
earth, that it rested and flowed gently just above the at- 
mosphere, firmly resting upon it as an earthly lake rests 

on land. Lady and I stood there with clasped 

hands, bewildered and surprised beyond anything we had 
ever experienced before; and then my soul was filled with 
glee. I waved my arms about joyfully and shook my 
hair, w r hich seemed filled with living light, about my face 
and head from sheer delight; and the beautiful color of a 

pink sea-shell came into Lady 's cheeks while her 

dark hair shone like satin, her deep, blue eyes sparkled 
and glowed w r ith happiness. 

"0, how glad I am there is something real here," she 
said. "The Spiritualists of earth are always talking of 
the spirit world, but it seemed to me like a vague noth- 
ingness. They go on for hours and hours and talk and 
write of the glories of the spirit life and progressing for- 
ever onward and upward, but very few of them tell you 
anything tangible about it or in what that progress con- 
sists. It always seemed to me a sort of rhapsodical noth- 
ingness, without anything to rest upon, and that is one 
great reason why I became a Theosophist. I have often 
thought that I should like the old orthodox heaven bet- 
ter, for at least it had something that appeared real; but 
this — this is the real, and as tangible as anything can be." 

We had been so engrossed that we had not noticed any- 
thing else. Now, we turned from the lake to look about 
us. Our feet were resting on a shining shore, in appear- 
ance like an idealized earthly shore of a lake, and further 
on were trees, shrubs, pathways, green lawns, sprinkled 
with bright flowers; and we could see a lovely landscape 
dotted with sparkling buildings, and hazy mountains, 
hills and so forth; but it was all so ethereal, so spiritual, 
so exceedingly beautiful that, as you say on earth, it quite 
took one's breath away. We also noticed that there were 
others on the shore of the lake as well as ourselves, but we 
were as yet quite strangers. As we looked over the lake 
we noticed a number of boats, beautiful, fairy-like things 
of different sizes, and in them also were people — spirit 
people like ourselves. 

As we stood there in rapt astonishment, a boat con- 
taining an oarsman grated on the shore. He was a noble- 



260 LETTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

looking gentleman. He bowed politely as he said: "Par- 
don me, ladies, but would you like to take a row on the 
lake? I see that you are new-comers to this beautiful 
spirit land. I can show you much that is interesting on 
the lake — or within its waters, rather — if you will favor 
me with your company." 

Lady and I stepped within the beautiful boat. I 

must describe this boat. I must tell you something about 
this world. 

Some of those great egotistical Egos of earth may smile 
and call the truth the vaporings of imagination, and in- 
sist on sailing through barren ether without object, chart, 
rudder or compass; oh, yes; forever vibrating in noth- 
ingness. But they are mistaken, just as sure as you live 
they are mistaken, and I, a spirit woman, tell you so; be- 
lieve me or not as you will, it doesn't alter the truth in the 
least — and as they vibrate about in nothingness they don't 
even remember — the higher vibrations take away their 
memory. 

Ah, me! Ah, me! The folly of it all; but to return to 
my boat. The boat was in the form of a shell, that is 
a boat-shaped shell, all lined with mother-of-pearl, with 
cozy little seats like swan's down, into which we sunk rap- 
turously, and we could not resist the temptation of allow- 
ing our hands to trail in the water. The boatman's oars 
appeared like pearl also. He pushed the boat out into 
the water and then with graceful, gentle strokes he rowed 
out far into the lake, Here he rested his oars as he said : 

"Look into the water, ladies," and he smiled happily in 
the most friendly way imaginable. 

Lady and I both gazed into the clear, sparkling, 

pelucid water, and there we saw another world of spiritual 
life — the spiritual life and forms of such fish as abound in 
the lakes of earth — their beautiful ethereal forms were 
sporting and gliding about in the most graceful manner, 
in all their dainty coloring. 

Other little boats were dancing about over the lake and 
glad smiles and sweet laughter greeted us as we passed. 
and pretty hands were waved toward us with kisses. Lady 
and I did not talk much, for surprise kept us silent. 

Now when I actually came to see these fishes in the 
water it did not seem at all strange to me — although if I 
had thought of such a thing on earth it would have 
seemed ridiculous — for I at once conceived how it was. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 261 

The ethereal, spiritual life of these fishes had arisen from 
earth. While the coarser, heavier portion forming water 
like that of earth had fallen back to earth, the fine, ethe- 
real, spiritual water together with the spiritual, ethereal 
forms of the dead, earthly fishes — their spiritual life, 
their beauty of form — all were transported here within, 
and together with the fine vapor. 

Now I hear some one of earth ask a sneering question: 
"What becomes of the fishes that other fishes eat, for 
the big fish eat the little fish?" and I will ask that person 
in return, What becomes of a man, or the spirit of a man, 
when a bear eats him? The bear doesn't eat the spirit of 
the man, he cannot. Like Socrates' spirit, the bear can't 
catch it, and only eats the material part of the man, that 
is, his fleshly body; and it is precisely thus with the fish. 
One can't eat the spirit of the fish, simply its fleshly body. 
Au revoir. MADAM 



LETRER NUMBER NINE. 



My dear earthly friends and foes (I suppose my foes 
ought to be dear to me, as well as my friends, but nature 
rebels sometimes), I want to tell you all about this life 
where I now am. No doubt those who do not believe me 
will read or at least glance over this, as well as those who 
do, and no matter what they read it will be engraven on 
their souls forevermore, although they may think they 
have entirely forgotten it. 

My first proposition is this: The spirit world is some- 
thing, or it is nothing. There is a spirit world, or there 
is not. There can be no half-way about it. 

Now if the spirit world is something, you of earth life 
ought to know about it. It is folly to say: "We can'^t 
know very much about the higher life until we get there." 
You can know a great deal about it. Anything and ev- 
erything can be known if the knowledge is diligently 
sought for. There are thousands of spirits eager and 
willing to give this knowledge to those who seek for it in 
the right way; but when we tell you of our life here, you 



262 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

meet us with a "Pooh, pooh! All imagination ! The im- 
agination of the medium." Of course the information we 
give you does you no immediate good. 

As I before stated, the spirit world is something or 
nothing and does not exist; but, if it does exist, it is a real 
and tangible world filled with life and beauty, for if there 
is a spiritual world it is for the purpose of holding spiritual 
life, for life is spirit, and without spirit there is no life. 
Everything that lives and moves and has a being it is the 
spirit that lives and moves within it, or rather the life or 
spirit covers itself with matter and whenever that matter 
is cast aside the life or spirit rises and takes its place with- 
in the spiritual world, and the principle holds good with 
everything that has the power of growth or has a form. 
The trees, the grass, the flowers, the shrubs, even to the 
tiny mosses and lichens. 

Now if I were not here and did not know this I should 
not tell you so. 

In my last letter I told you of the waters, and how they 
rose into the spiritual realm, carrying with them the life 
and spirits within them in their various beautiful forms. 
In this letter I want to tell you about the land — the spirit 
land. You used to call it the Summer Land, and you 
were nearer right than you knew. Lady and I re- 
mained in that beautiful spirit land for many days, and 
then returned to our earthly home in Russia. 

Of all we learned and encountered during that time I 
shall not now speak. It is not so much of my own spirit- 
ual life that I wish to talk, as to make the people of earth 
understand how it is this spirit world exists. 

After a few days of rest and quiet in our old home we 
started once more for the beautiful realm above, but our 
former experience there had somewhat spoiled us for our 
earthly habitation. Things of earth began to look coarse, 
unreal, and unsubstantial, that is, the material covering of 
them; but, it was knowledge and truth we were seeking 
and it seemed to be necessary that we should thus return 
to earth. 

The day was very warm and sunny when we started, 
and this time it was not the watery clouds that we desired 
to examine. The sun was rapidly drawing the sweet life 
and essence out of all vegetation, and this was ascending 
and filling the air as the water had done. This substance, 
or vapor, il' one may so call ii. rose far above the watery. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 2(53 

clouds before condensing. It did not condense in the 
same way the water had, but seemed to spread itself out 
in thin sheets, or layers, one above the other; and as we 
looked, the lower or coarser portion which the sun had 
drawn up kept gradually falling away from the finer or 
higher and fell, at last, back into the earth's atmosphere, 
but we followed the ascending, higher portion and 
mingled with it. 

Ah! what a sight met our eyes. A kind of thin, phan- 
tom representation of all the things which the sun had 
kissed. This ethereal or phantom mist rose higher and 
higher until it rested, as the lake had done, upon the 
earth's atmosphere; and now we were once more within 
the Spirit World. We found that every flower, shrub and 
tree there absorbed and appropriated to itself its own — 
that is to say, the dying rose of earth had at first sent a 
thin spiritual film upward, and as the rose faded the spir- 
itual rose grew bright and beautiful, nourished and fed 
by its own ambrosial nectar, and thus it was of all the 
trees, flowers, grasses and shrubs in the spiritual realm. 

Now I discovered that all things separated, each to its 
own order or kingdom, just as things do on earth, for all 
the spiritual spheres of your earth are fed from the earth. 
The earth is the great reservoir or feeder of the realms 
which rise above and surround it. Vegetation, grass, 
trees and flowers yield up their lives more slowly than the 
animal and insect kingdom do, for the animal kingdom is 
higher than the vegetable or floral. The animal yields up 
his life, or spirit, at once, and rises rapidly upward, nor 
does it pause until it strikes the Spirit Land. The ani- 
mal has a certain amount of intelligence and finds its 
place according to its attractions. That is to say, a wild 
animal immediately seeks a dense, spiritual forest; a do- 
mestic animal often pauses near the lovely, spiritual 
homes, or revels in the green meadows, or wanders beside 
the running streams and rivers, or gazes with its large, 
beautiful, dewy eyes at the lakes; the birds wing their way, 
as on earth, singing their sweet songs; and they love to 
linger near the habitations of men — or spirits, rather, the 
same as on earth. The insects also gravitate to their nat- 
ural places. 

Now as the spheres rise one above another, and as the 
earth is the nucleus or center, one can readily see thai 
there is room enough for all and to spare, for the first 



2CA LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

sphere above the earth is correspondingly larger than the 
earth, and so they go on enlarging, and when, at last, the 
outermost sphere is reached, the distance from the nu- 
cleus, or earth, is quite appalling and its circumference 
more appalling still, and even when that is at last reached 
there remains the earth's orbit, or as I shall here call it, 
its inconceivable pathway around the sun, which is also 
a vast zone of spiritual life and beauty. 

0, my dear earthly friends, the spiritual world is not an 
intangible nothingness, but real, filled with real life and 
the living souls and spiritual bodies of men, women and 
children, with its homes, its colleges, its institutions for 
knowledge of all kinds, and as rapidly as the errors and 
mistakes of earth can be purged away, peace and purity 
reign supreme — wisdom and love go hand in hand, and an 
eternity of joy and gladness awaits the soul of man. 

Of course you must all see by what I have herein writ- 
ten, that the details of spiritual lives are as numerous as 
those lives, and that all differ as on earth; but within the 
spheres there is no propagation proper. All spiritual 
forms come up from the earths, for all spiritual germs 
must develop within matter and as they develop and 
throw off their coarser covering they rise into the spirit- 
ual realm. 

The human is so constituted that it wants proof of any 
assertion that may be made. If all minds are not thus 
constituted the majority are, and it is well that they are. 
It is childish and often an indication of a weak mind to 
take anything on faith, or because someone has made an 
assertion implicitly believe it to be true. For this reason 
every assertion that is made I shall try to prove. 

As I am writing of the spiritual life the only way in 
which I can prove the statements made is by appealing to 
reason and common sense as well as by following out prob- 
lems that can lead to but one result, that of truth. 

As I know that Franz Petersilea has already told you 
how homes, halls, and temples are erected here, I will try 
not to go over the same ground, otherwise you all might 
grow weary of these letters. A woman's view of things is 
often different from that of a man's. For instance, Lady 
and her husband might be taking a long and de- 
lightful journey. Every scene and incident that tran- 
pired during the tour might be noticed and indelibly fixed 
upon I he mind of the lady, while my Lord might notice 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 265 

but very little, his mind being engaged with other 
thoughts and things. At the end of the journey, my lady 
could tell one all about the country, its hills, dales and 
mountains, its splendid landscapes, the modes and cus- 
toms of its people; while My Lord could tell nothing, for 
he had been engaged the most of the time in smoking, 
drinking, eating, playing cards with others like himself, 
and so on ad infinitum. No two minds can see the same 
thing alike. Each looks at it from a different point of 
view, and thousands do not see what another may. Two 
persons may visit the same place, one may tell of some- 
thing very interesting and beautiful, the other will say: 
"Oh, that's not so at all. I was there myself, and I did 
not see it." 

So when the spirits come back and tell you this, that 
and the other, do not be surprised if their stories do not 
agree, for each has had its own experience and each looks 
at things from its own standpoint. 

Now if I should tell you something that the Professor 
had not, do not say the spirits do not agree, therefore one, 
or perhaps even both are falsifiers, but remember that the 
same thing appears different to different people. An- 
other point I should like to make clear. 

When Mr. Ingersoll controls one sensitive and then an- 
other, do not expect that both will be alike, for he can 
make certain things clear through one and other things 
through another; neither will the style be the same 
through each, for he is using different instruments. One 
man can use a saw and also a plane. The saw will do one 
kind of work and the plane another, yet the same man 
uses both; and do not expect a spirit to be precisely as he 
was on earth; remember he has entered a new life and that 
which was so important to him on earth may be entirely 
unimportant to him now, and that which he supposed to 
be true may be false. Yours truly, 

MADAM 



266 LETTEKS EKOM THE SPIK1T WOULD. 



LETTER NUMBER TEN. 



Now I, Madam , want to say a word or two 

about spirit memory, and I really hope you will believe 
me. It will be* much better for all if you do. I shall 
make an assertion, then afterwards try to prove it. The 
assertion is this: Spiritual beings remember with great 
distinctness all that ever happened to them in the earth 
life — they remember every thought that has ever been 
impressed upon the mind, every word that has ever been 
heard by the ears, everything which the eyes have ever 
seen, every person with whom they have ever come in 
contact, not the smallest detail that they have ever been 
conscious of in the earth life is forgotten; but on the con- 
trary everything is remembered with vivid clearness. 

This is my assertion. 

That they cannot give all this with clearness through 
an earthly medium is true. A man cannot see his own 
image in muddy water, but when this water is clear and 
undisturbed the image is distinctly outlined. Mediums 
are at fault, but it is not often that the spirits are. They 
nearly always do the best they can through the instru- 
ments they make use of. If that which they wish to con- 
vey through the mind of a medium is distorted according 
to the bent of the mind of the medium it is not the fault 
of the spirits. If the medium cannot give one every- 
thing that the spirit remembers well, it is not the fault of 
the spirit, or lack of memory on his part, but the waters 
are muddy and disturbed, consequently do not reflect the 
image which the spirit wishes to cast upon it. Mediums 
should try to become calm, clear reflectors, and even then 
names and dates cannot always be given. Names and 
dates become very unimportant to spiritual beings who 
have risen up out of and beyond days, weeks and months 
- — aye. and years, too. 



LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 2(Y 



on 



Persons on earth who have traveled long distances _ 
deserts and prairies, with camels or oxen, often forget the 
time to that extent that they cannot tell how long they 
have been traveling and can only regain the time and 
dates on reaching their destination by asking what month 
or year it may be— what day of the week and the date of 
the month. This is often and often the case, conse- 
quently many take great care to mark each day as it 
passes, so that time may not slip out of the mind. Now 
on coming to the spirit life one enters upon an eternal 
journey, where there are no days, weeks or months, nor 
even years, for these only pertain to earths, and each 
earth is marked by a different time. One readily loses all 
sense of time and often cannot tell how long he or she has 
been in spirit life; and this is especially true of those who 
are far removed from earth. 

Now when a spirit returns who has been for some time 
in the spirit world, and you say to him: "Father, how long 
have you been in spirit life?" he might truthfully say: "I 
do not know/' for he does not, but he wants you to know 
that it is he, and he will try to read from your mind or the 
mind of some one else, how many years, months or days 
he has been there, consequently will tell you what you 
already know. Then you say, "This is not a test. The 
medium read it from the mind of the interlocutor." Then, 
again, one will say to a spirit: "Won't you give your 
name and tell how old you were when you passed out of 
the body?" Now, perhaps that person had been sick a 
long period of time before passing out, so weary and ill 
that he had not been conscious of time to any great ex- 
tent, and many are entirely unconscious for days and days 
together before they cross the river called death, and they 
may have been in spirit life many more days, weeks, 
months or years, which do not exist for them; then how 
expect them to tell when they died, what they died of, and 
how long they have been in spirit life? 

Now I hope I have have been able to point out the rock 
on which so many split until they lose faith in spiritual 
communion. The fault is with themselves and not with 
the spirits. A spirit does not so readily forget the name 
he bore, still there are manv instances when it is hard to 
tell even that. Few spirits in spirit life are called by the 
names they bore on earth. A child on earth is named or 
christened shortly after its birth. A spirit is named 



268 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

shortly after arriving here unless it greatly desires to be 
called by the name it bore on earth. A great many peo- 
ple do not like the names they were called by on earth, 
and when they get here choose some pretty and appropri- 
ate name that suits and pleases them. The old name has 
fallen away from them like the old body, and it is often 
distasteful and hard for them to pick it up again, and 
small children do not even know what their names were. 

It is very hard, even on earth, for a small child to tell 
you what his name is, or how old he may be. Some chil- 
dren of even eight or ten years often find it difficult to 
tell, and parents and guardians are drilling them continu- 
ally on the subject. Yet, of course, it is far easier for a 
spirit to give his name than to tell time correctly; but, 
suppose he has been in spirit life fifty or more years, and 
has not in all that time even heard the name by which he 
was called on earth; one may see how hard it may be to 
recall it; besides he has passed through so many and ex- 
alted experiences, has visited so many other planets and 
worlds, that the old name, if not forgotten, is often re- 
called with much effort. Still if a spirit remains very 
near to earth and enrapport with his former relatives he 
does not find it so difficult. 

Now I hear some one say: "Why, you are proving that 
spirits do forget instead of the contrary, according to your 
first assertion." No; I am simply explaining how it is 
that to you of earth it appears as though they had forgot- 
ten or do forget. But as I said at first, the soul forgets 
nothing, yet it often takes some time to recall unimport- 
ant events, or impressions that were not assimilated by 
the person enough to have become a part of his being, and 
what might seem of the utmost importance to a ques- 
tioner might to the spirit have little or no interest, might, 
in fact, be extremely distasteful and irritating; besides the 
questioner and the spirit might be antagonistic. 

A highly progressed, wise and good spirit, might want 
to give some great universal truths to a questioner, some- 
thing of importance to the world at large, and the ques- 
tioner, in the narrowness of his material earthly mind, 
might insist on asking silly or selfish questions, and be- 
cause the spirit might not in its higher and broader wis- 
dom reply to these questions just to suit the small mind of 
the questioner, immediately the questioner might say that 
the spirit forgot, or that it was a wicked or lying spirit 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 360 

and so forth, ad nauseam; moreover, a spirit likes far bet- 
ter to impress directly the mind of some loved one than to 
work through a foreign instrument, one, perhaps, not to 
its liking. Many mediums are very distasteful to some 
spirits, and they do not come en rapport with them at all, 
although for the money which is paid them the mediums 
pretend that they do, and give fraudulent messages which, 
of course, are false, then the blame is laid to Spiritualism 
or to the spirits, when the fault is entirely with the me- 
diums. 

There are not nearly as many evil spirits as some sup- 
pose, and when all this is better understood we shall hear 
less about lying, wicked spirits, and more about goodness, 
virtue and truth, but — and now I expect to prove that 
spirits cannot and do not forget anything. Can the Infi- 
nite forget? Can a mother forget her child? The Infi- 
nite is the father and mother of the Finite. Can the Infi- 
nite forget its children? The Finite becomes the Infinite. 
Can the Infinite forget? An Immortal Spirit is Infinite, 
for Immortality constitutes Infinity. The spirit may ap- 
parently forget for a season, but the Infinite restores all 
that seemed to be lost. The Finite may not understand 
but the Infinite does. 

Now before closing this letter I want to say a few words 
about astronomy. The heavenly bodies are very decep- 
tive in their appearance, and what is at present, on the 
earth, supposed to be entirely correct will at length be 
found to be quite erroneous. New laws will be discovered 
that will change the aspect of that which is now the 
accepted theory regarding the worlds in space. So be 
very chary about calling the spirits bad names because 
they are already giving an inkling of the truth. Hear 
them gravely and ponder well what they tell you, for by 
so doing you may be the one to discover some great, 
eternal truth not known before. 

Galileo said that the earth moved. Astronomers 
thought they knew better, but you see he was right and 
they were wrong. It has been but a short time since it 
was discovered that what was before thought to be void 
was really ether and that this ether filled all space, pene- 
trated in and through all things, and knowledge will not 
stop here; other things and laws will be discovered that 
will upset many of the present ideas about the heavenly 
bodies. So do not be too sure of anything, but. as T said 



270 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

before, listen gravely to what the spirits have to tell you 
if you desire aid in any direction. 

Perpetual motion has been laughed to scorn, but it is 
a great truth, as true as that the earth and all the worlds 
in space are in perpetual motion, and it will not be long 
before this great fact will be given to the world for its 
untold benefit. Some sensitive will listen to the voice of 
a spirit or spirits and it will be whispered within the soul; 
possibly it has already been done, for, let me tell you, we 
know all about it here and have only to wait to find the 
right one to give it to earth. 

It has not been very long since the stars, in thousands 
of instances have been found to be double, and fifty years 
ago if one had pointed to a star and said: "That is not one 
star, but two," he would have been called luny. 

Now when Professor Petersilea tells you that the sun 
is dual in its nature, he is called — well, never mind what. 
It so grieved his noble, truthful soul that he had to leave 
the earthly atmosphere for awhile to regain his 
equilibrium. 

Now I, Madam , a spirit, tell you the same thing. 

You may laugh me to scorn, you may call me a — well 
never mind what, but it will not change the fact one iota. 
You had better hear me with gravity, listen to what I say, 
and some other one^of you may become a Galileo to be 
remembered as one of the world's great discoverers, and 
this discovery will mark an epoch in the history of the 
earthly world. 

Again, the Professor told the world that animal life 
existed in the spiritual realm as well as man's. He was 
not the first to tell the world this for others had believed 
and said so, and in consequence been adjudged insane; 
but now a large portion of the world believe this great 
fact, and soon all will know it to be true. Be very cau- 
tious, friends and enemies, how you laugh or sneer, for 
you may be slapping one of the greatest and grandest 
truths in nature directly in the face. Examine every- 
thing gravely, minutely, without prejudice, for who can 
tell that beautiful Truth may not be hidden there simply 
waiting to be unveiled. Yours truly, 

MADAM 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 271 



LETTER NUMBER ELEVEN. 



I am about to write something in this letter that may 
not meet the views of most Spiritualists, and I doubt very 
much if any will believe me. Nevertheless, I shall write 
nothing but the truth. 

Any truth when first given to those of earth from the 
spheres is met in an antagonistic spirit, but if we ceased 
to give of our knowledge to the earthly world on that 
account no progress would be made there. 

The startling truth I have to give is this: 

No spiritual being ever yet returned to earth in its real, 
tangible, spiritual body. I mean its sublimated material 
body — the body that it at length takes on after being here 
quite a length of time. Do not start at this assertion and 
say that I am a falsifier, or that I contradict myself, as I 

have already told you that Lady and I went back 

to earth and dwelt in a sequestered home in Russia. But 

Lady and I had not yet taken on our sublimated 

material spiritual bodies; we were yet simply spirits with- 
out density and were not yet grown or covered by tangible 
bodies. That was still in store for us. To the spirits in 
the spheres we yet appeared pale, fluttering, weak and 
vaporish; fluctuating, undecided, for we as new-born 
spirits were in this condition. A spirit appears precisely 
like what it is. No one on earth expects a new-born babe 
to be like a large, solid man or woman; it is small, soft 
and tender. I do not mean that our bodies were small, 
they were exact counterparts of what our earthly bodies 
had been, minus decrepitude and age, but they were not 
yet firm, condensed and beautiful as they were at length 
destined to be. 

And now you ask me: "What kind of a spirit body is 
it, then, that returns to earth?" and I reply: A soul can 
clothe itself in various bodies, or rather it has various 
bodies. It has a thought body, an astral body, a spiritual, 



272 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

vaporish body, and a sublimated material spiritual body; 
and it is this last body that never returns to earth. While 
you are on earth in the fleshly form you have all these 
bodies, but are not yet conscious of them; still, the world 
is getting there very fast. You talk of telepathy. Well, 
that is the action of the thought body. You talk of 
etherealization. Well, that is the astral body — when it is 
genuine. You talk of an intangible, impalpable spiritual 
presence. Well, that is the thin, vaporish body, and this 
sometimes takes on from those sitting in a circle a 
materialized body — and it is just here that I shall prove 
to you the truth of what I say. 

If an impalpable spiritual body can for a short time 
clothe itself with material substance on earth, can it not 
form and wear a body within the spheres, of sublimated 
material substance? 

Whatever you may think, such is the fact. But this 
body cannot, and does not return to earth. It must 
remain, necessarily, beyond the attraction of gravitation, 
else it would be injured; for it is dense enough to receive 
injury were it to strike the hard, revolving earth. 

My friends, the thought body returns, the astral body 
returns, and the vaporish spiritual body returns; but not 
the real, sublimated material spiritual body. The soul 
desires to return to earth. It leaves its dense body here 
in the spheres and goes fortji clothed in its thought, astral 
and vaporish bodies, or rather it is covered by these 
bodies. The astral corresponds to the ether, the vaporish 
to the vapor, and the thought body to the thought, while 
the exquisite, sublimated material spiritual body is at rest 
here like one of earth who is sleeping. For instance: I, 
Madam , am here with this sensitive now, con- 
trolling to write; but, before coming here for that pur- 
pose, I said in my mind or with my thought body: "I am 
now going down to earth to write a message to the peo- 
ple," consequently I went and laid myself down, as one 
does who goes to sleep on earth, and my sublimated 
material body is asleep, or unconscious, while I am doing 
this. I sent forth my thought, it took with it my astral 
body and my vaporish, spiritual body, but the other body 
it must leave behind, then when I return I shall awake. 
or, rather, my various bodies will once more be joined 
together and I shall arise and go about my business in the 
spheres. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 373 

I hope I have made this clear to the most obtuse mind. 
I have tried to at least. 

Now if earthly emanations condense here in the 
spheres, as they certainly do, and we have animals, vegeta- 
tion, water, land and homes, you must see that our bodies 
must correspond, and that if we could take these bodies 
with us to earth, of course we could take — as those of 
earth do when they journey — many other things besides. 
So by this you perceive that I have told you a great truth. 

How glad I am that so great and good a man as the 
Rev. Heber Newton has told his people, that in the 
heavenly world there are homes and employments similar 
to those of earth, for he has voiced a great, grand, eternal 
truth. 

Yes, friends, we have all these things here in the 
spheres. If we only understood the Christians better, 
and they understood us better, we should scarcely disagree 
in anything. Professor Franz Petersilea tried to tell you 
of some of these halls, homes, institutions of learning, 
and so forth, and his heart is grieved and sore because he 
has been met by many in such a spirit of intolerance, the 
same spirit that you Spiritualists accuse the Christians of. 
We advise to pluck the beam from your own eyes before 
looking for the mote in your brother's eyes. 

Those great and good men, Rev. Heber Newton, and 
Rev. Minot Savage, are more tolerant, by far, than the 
most so-called Spiritualists. It seems that most Spirit- 
ualists can not and will not accept any truth beyond that 
which they think they already know, yet they are continu- 
ally talking of progression. If they will not accept any 
new truth which may be given, where is the progress, 
pray? Now there is just one point more that I wish to 
touch upon, and it is this: Franz Petersilea tried to tell 
how we build our homes in the spheres, and immediately 
there arose the cry: "Insane spirits! for it is nothing but 
insanity for a spirit to build his home within his mind 
and then reside within it as the insane of earth imagine 
they have what they have not." 

If anything can be more material and obtuse than that, 
I should like to know it. And yet these same people will 
tell you of shining spiritual cities, and houses not made 
with hands, eternal and in the heavens. consistency, 
thou art a jewel when found! 

How do these intolerant, fault-finding ones think our 



i\ I LETTEBS FBOM THE SPIBIT WORLD. 

houses and cities are builded? Do they suppose they are 
built of brick, stone and mortar, or wood — that the work- 
men use plane, saw and trowel, ladders and derricks, to- 
gether with all the paraphernalia that is made use of on 
earth? Do they think we burn brick, mix lime and ce- 
ment, cut down trees, have planing and saw mills, make 
shingles, and so forth? If they do, then I reply, We do 
not. 

How, then, do they build these homes and shining 
cities? They build them within the mind. Thoughts 
are things and go forth from the mind, and from the de- 
sire of the mind, or, rather, the force or will-power exer- 
cised they are clothed with sublimated material and be- 
come real. Do you call a man of earth insane because he 
first builds his house in his mind and then clothes it with 
brick, stone, and mortar or wood, glass, and so forth? 
But the house must be planned, or built in the mind first, 
or there can be no house. Throw brick, lime and mortar 
together promiscuously, and see if it will build itself. No, 
friends; all things, except natural things, must first exist 
in the mind or thought, to be clothed upon by material 
or spiritual substance, as the case may be. It is only an 
obtuse and intolerant spirit that can think or talk other- 
wise. 

Eev. Heber Newton also referred to the employments of 
heaven, saying that they were similar to those of earth; 
and a greater truth was never uttered, for they are, in- 
deed. There is not a trade, art or employment of earth 
that we do not have here, with this difference: we do not 
work with the hands, but with the mind, the thought, the 
spirit, and these thoughts take on tangible shape and are 
clothed with sublimated or spiritual substance, and you of 
earth must perceive this great truth. 

How can we cut down a spiritual tree, or kill a spiritual 
animal, or burn brick and so forth? Spiritual life of any 
kind cannot be taken. If it could, the life of a spiritual 
man could be taken. Nothing can rob an Ego of its 
life. It may be robbed of material substance, but not of 
its identity or life. Life is life forever and aye! 

Now the more perfect and beautiful our thoughts the 
more beautiful our houses or homes: the move perfect we 
are, the more perfect our surroundings; and thus it is. 
I Tow sublime, beautiful and true: "A house not made with 
bands, eternal and in the heavens." 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 2 i 5 

No; our houses are not made with hands and they are 
eternal and in the heavens. Also: "In my father's house 
are many mansions." There are mansions, very many 
mansions in the heavens, or, as you now call it — the Spir- 
itual Spheres — which is all one and the same thing. The 
heavens are the spheres. A rose is a rose call it by what- 
ever name one will. Heavens or spheres. Call them 
by which ever name one may choose. 

A few words more and I am done with this letter. If 
the sound of a voice, or any other sound, goes on forever 
in the ether, how about the life or spirit of anything what- 
ever? Will the bark of a dog go on forever in the ether, 
and the spirit that causes the dog to bark become extinct? 
Will the neigh of a horse go on forever, and the spirit, or 
living principle of the horse, become extinct? Think 
more deeply, oh, ye sapient sages, or a woman will outwit 
you, and that will never do, at least you think she never 
can. But I have to tell you that the coarser atmosphere 
of earth does not carry the sound of your voice beyond its 
own atmosphere, the finer ether holds the sound and car- 
ries it onward forever: I will not call it vibration, for 
people get terribly mixed on that word, but you may call 
it that or anything else you please. 

So the finer ether holds the life, or spirit, of all things 
and carries it onward forever and forever. Spirits of an- 
imals seldom or never return to earth. Not having as 
much intelligence or mind as man, they do not wish, will 
or desire, consequently do not often return, but, some- 
times do. A dog very much attached to his master may 
remain near him for a long time after leaving the mate- 
rial body, so may a horse, and occasionally some other pet 
animal or bird, but these are merely exceptions to the 
rule. Ethereal sounds are not heard by mortal ears, but 
the ethereal, or spiritual ear hears all the sounds that the 
ethereal air, or ether, brings to it. The mortal sight can- 
not see the spheres or the angels, it can only see what is 
within the dense earthly atmosphere, but the ethereal, or 
spiritual eye can see all things that exist within the ether. 
It is simply a difference of atmospheres, that is all. Oik 1 
is dense, almost opaque; the other sparkling and bright. 

Yours truly, MADAM 



27G LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 



LETTER NUMBER TWELVE. 



In my last letter I wrote of the sublimated material 
spiritual body, of the thought body, of the astral body, 
and the ego or soul; and fearing that I may be misunder- 
stood, let me here say that on earth a man has a body of 
bones, a body of flesh, a body of nerves, a body of veins 
and arteries, and a body of skin, or the epidermis, and 
these various bodies go to make up his material form; but 
within that material form is a sensational or spiritual 
body, a thought body, an astral body, and the ego, or soul, 
yet all these are apparently within one body, for only one 
form is visible to the sight. So in spirit life, there is but 
one form apparent, yet this form is composed of spiritual- 
ized material substance — or like the epidermis — a fine 
spirit body, a thought body, and an astral body, together 
with the soul. 

Therefore one can see that as Lady and I grew 

wiser in spiritual knowledge we began to take on the more 
dense, sublimated material, spiritual body; consequently, 
each time we visited the spheres, it became more and 
more difficult for us to return to earth in our sublimated 
material forms, and at last we left the house in Russia al- 
together, for the spirit realm was so entrancingly beau- 
tiful, its homes so exquisite and refined, that earth and its 
scenes became more and more distasteful to us, almost 
disgustingly coarse, and really much of it quite so, and at 
last if we returned at all it must be in our attenuated 
spirit bodies, leaving our more dense bodies at rest in the 
spiritual realm. Besides, it now must be for a purpose, or 
some strong magnetic attraction must draw us, such as a 
powerful love of some kind, or that we have some especial 
mission or duty to perform, or we could join a band of 
spirits or angels for the same purpose, in that way becom- 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 277 

ing stronger and more powerful for the performance of 
good works. Our sensitive says we flit back and forth 
like birds. But when we are engaged in writing a mes- 
sage we remain for an hour or more as the occasion re- 
quires. 

Now I am here at this moment because I have a mission 
and duty to perform for those who are still in the mate- 
rial body, being one of the spirits or angels commissioned 
to give truth to the world below our own. 

There is one idea that is at present being given forth to 
the world as a great scientific fact, while in reality it is 
scientific nonsense; and that is, that the minutest atom of 
matter is possessed of a certain amount of intelligent 
spirit. 

0, what balderdash! Matter is matter, and spirit is 
spirit, and soul is soul. Spirit and soul clothe them- 
selves with matter, and only the spirit and soul are intel- 
ligent. Matter possesses no intelligence of any kind, and 
speaking closer to the point, nothing possesses intelli- 
gence but the soul. The spirit is simply the soul's ve- 
hicle and matter its clothing. Does clothing or a dress 
possess intelligence? Bah! Can learned nonsense go 
farther into ridiculousness? One would think that there 
existed no air, no ether, nothing but matter — matter! and 
that all life first existed within matter, and spirit, intelli- 
gence, and soul was evolved from matter, whereas it is ex- . 
actly the contrary. 

Life — intelligence — soul — exists fi r st within the air — 
the ether. It picks up matter as a rag to cover it, that 
it may dwell within materiality for a season until it is 
grown or developed. And this applies to the smallest 
thing that has life. It is life itself, and it is surprising 
that Spiritualists, of all others, should accept such non- 
sense. When the air and earth, or matter, kiss each 
other, then there is a marriage, and then life and intelli- 
gence enter earth, or matter, and only then. Take away 
the germs of life that exist within the air or the ether and 
matter would remain forever sterile. Take some earth, 
for instance, destroy all the germs that it might possibly 
contain — but here I wish to add, they are not destroyed, 
merely driven out or back into the ether — then seal up 
this matter so that not a particle of air or ether can touch 
it, and it would remain forever without life or intelli- 
gence. 



278 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Spiritualists. I, Madam , caution you: Do not drift 

into such materialistic nonsense. Return, my beloved, 
into true spiritual Spiritualism. It would be far better 
and even nearer the truth, if you were to believe as you 
formerly did, that God in person breathed the breath of 
life into man. But Professor Petersilea has already in- 
formed you — as I read in the mind of the medium — that 
all spiritual, or soul germs, are inhaled, or enter matter 
through the breathing process; or by the flower attract- 
ing and holding the germs of its own kind or species, 
which afterward bear seed, and seed is merely a living 
germ embedded deeply in matter, and the germs are all 
and wholly within the air or ether; it is simply the pro- 
cess by which germ life and matter meet and blend, or the 
spiritual intelligence buries or clothes itself, and in my 
last letter I told you of the emanations arising from the 
earth, which is merely the developed life and intelligence 
arising again into the air or ether. It really seems to me 
now, that such a great truth cannot but strike home to 
every reasoning mind. Besides, no earth whatever has 
life upon it of any kind that has not an atmosphere. You 
say the moon has no life upon it because it has no atmos- 
phere; and you are right. Life does not reside within the 
bulk of its matter, or material substance, but if it had an 
atmosphere life would soon find lodgment there; be sure 
of that. 

Now, some one says: "But it is surrounded by ether." 
Very true; but ether must convey life to matter through 
the atmospheric principle, through that principle by 
which life must be sustained and exist within matter. 
Even in the spiritual realm we have a refined and rare at- 
mosphere entirely distinct from ether. 

If you, as Spiritualists, drift back into materiality our 
fifty years of labor will be lost to you. Science never yet 
gave you the great truths of Spiritualism. Science might 
delve a thousand years — aye, even more — and not be any 
nearer the truth. Fact is, it is just as likely to burrow 
downward — even more likely — than to rise upward into 
the heavens of spirituality. It is like a blind mole dig- 
ging away at matter without a ray of light to illumine its 
pathway, with the mind forever looking downward in- 
stead of upward, and it is folly to say that life commences 
and originates within a cell of matter, and the two cells 
meeting, and so forth. It does not. I, Madam , a 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 279 

spirit, tell you so and I tell you the truth, whether you ac- 
cept it or not. 

Sperm is formed in the blood, or takes on its first mate- 
rial clothing in the blood, and the invisible spermatozoas 
or germs are in the air and ether, and are taken in with 
the breath, clothed with matter in the blood, are then in- 
jected into an egg or ovum, which is simply food and 
clothing for it to develop in. Now when science begins 
here it will come out all right and very little burrowing 
will have to be done, for it will be working in the light of 
a great spiritual truth, and a truth that science never did 
nor never will give you without this light. They tell you 
that fish can be produced without milt, by certain chem- 
icals, but they cannot keep fish alive, or the eggs of fish, 
without water; and as milt is invisible in the water, or we 
may call it spermatozoa, can any one say that it may not 
be in the water instead of in the chemicals? Whatever 
they may try to prove to the contrary, old Mother Nature 
will work her mill — the mill of life — just as she does at 
present, ten thousand years from now, the great new dis- 
covery of creating life to the contrary. 

Most people are afraid to write against a great, scientific 
discovery, as they term it, but I, a spirit, am not afraid to 
write against it, for it is not true, and it is one of my du- 
ties as a spirit messenger to write against that which is not 
true and to write that which I know to be true. 

Then one hears so much about differentiation, what- 
ever that may mean, but the way it is put it is perfectly 
meaningless. A million or more, or many millions of en- 
tirely different forms of life all being produced from the 
word differentiation. Can unmeaningness go any far- 
ther? Or two cells starting exactly alike differentiating 
into a number of millions of different forms. 0, consist- 
ency, what a jewel thou art! But here is the truth; ac- 
cept it or not, as you please. 

The germs of all things that exist in nature, exist in 
the atmosphere, each distinct as to its kind and species, 
and they have existed from all eternity and were different, 
from the beginning. Yet we as spirits cannot conceive 
of a beginning. Germinal life is co-existent with spirit 
and matter. Yours truly, MADAM 



280 LETTEES FEOM THE SPIEIT WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER THIRTEEN. 



At this writing I wish to tell you about the attraction 
of gravitation. First I shall make an assertion, and the 
assertion shall be a most truthful one. Perhaps not many- 
have thought much about it. All the better; you want 
new thoughts. Never run in an eternal treadmill of old 
thoughts. Try to get fresh, new ones, and if you try you 
will find an eternal supply ever ready to be received, and 
eager to be put to the best use possible. But, put your 
thoughts to the test — try them in the light of your high- 
est wisdom and reason — and if they stand the test, then 
are they true. 

My assertion is this: The earth has the power of draw- 
ing and holding to itself all material things. The spirit- 
ual world has the same power of drawing and holding to 
itself all spiritual things. One attracts heavy or coarse 
matter, the other fine, sublimated matter, and the attrac- 
tion of gravitation of the one is as powerful as the other 
— no, that is not quite exact — one is far more powerful 
than the other. The spiritual realm is far more powerful 
than the coarser and heavier earth. 

Why, the spiritual realm is attracting and holding 
countless billions of tons of attenuated matter every day, 
and yet with this great truth staring them in the face, 
some doubt the existence of a spiritual world. Every 
blade of grass, every leaf of vegetation, tree and shrub, 
every stream, river, pond, and all large bodies of water, 
are being drawn upward as rapidly as the sun and air can 
do it. To be sure a very large part of the water con- 
denses, and when it becomes too heavy for the upper air is 
attracted back to earth, but not nearly all of it — much, 
very much never condenses sufficiently to be attracted 
back to earth, consequently is attracted by the higher, 
lighter spirit world, and as T stated in a former letter, be- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 281 

comes subject to the natural laws appertaining to that 
world — and what of the countless tons of other matter 
that is being drawn upward every day? Can the most 
learned of men on earth deny this statement? No, sirs, 
you cannot. Then why don't you tell the people some- 
thing about it? Why don't you tell them what becomes 
of all these countless billions of tons of matter that are 
being drawn upward each day of the year? 

. Now, I, Madam , a spirit, challenge the whole 

world of learned men to contradict my assertion. I want 
you to contradict it. Still, I would like you to contradict 
me in a gentlemanly manner. I expect you to treat me 
as gentlemen should treat each other, or as gentlemen 
treat ladies, even if I am a spirit lady. 

When I was with you in the form I exacted gentle 
manners and kind treatment, and was ever ready to be 
gentle and kind to those who were gentle and kind to me. 
But, to take opposite sides in a debate is all right, and we 
can use any arguments we please if we do not descend to 
personal abuse, remembering that you have no more right 
to abuse a spirit, because it has left the body, than you 
have if it stood before you in the flesh, for it is a person 
the same as yourself. The reason why I want to be con- 
tradicted is that I wish to agitate the minds of the peo- 
ple of earth on this all-important subject. 

When one speaks of the spirit world as anything tangi- 
ble and real, as having land, water, hills, dales, grass, 
flowers, trees, buildings, schools, and so forth, others look 
upon them as lunatics fit for an asylum. Then, again, 
there are thousands of so-called Spiritualists whose ideas 
are exceedingly vague and uncertain; they look upon the 
spirit world as a vaporish kind of spookland, which 
amounts to a certain kind of nothingness, wherein form- 
less, invisible spirits, who amount to little else than noth- 
ing, forever aimlessly float about, progressing toward 
nothingness. 

Now you may each and all declare that you don't think 
so; but what the world wants is something definite, and 
there is nothing easier than to arrive at what you do want. 

There is nothing indefinite in nature, neither in the 
spirit world nor in the earthly world, and one is as defi- 
nite as the other, one is as real as the other, and I wanl 
those who do not think so to prove to the contrary, if they 
are able, and I will prove the opposite, for I am able. 



282 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Tell me, ye sages: What becomes of all the countless 
millions and billions of tons of matter that rise up from 
your earth at all times and seasons? You may reply that 
it remains a formless, conglomerate mass, but I assert to 
the contrary. You may say that it all returns back to the 
earth, but I say to the contrary. You may say, as you 
are in the habit of doing, that it is worked over and over 
again, but I say no, no, no, and reiterate, no! and just 
here is where you savants make your mistake. 

A portion of the grosser elements are attracted and 
drawn back to earth, those that by the law of natural af- 
finity belong to earth, but not the finer, the more subli- 
mated, the spiritual; that is attracted and held by the 
spirit world. And now let me tell you another great fact: 
Your earth grows larger and lighter every year. Two or 
three millions of years ago your earth was not as large as 
it is to-day, and it was much heavier and coarser than at 
present; its mountains were higher and more abrupt; its 
surface more rocky, its volcanoes far more numerous and 
active, and many spurted forth boiling water well mixed 
with rock and sand and often much bituminous matter. 
Now # if your earth does not weigh nearly as much to-day 
as it did some millions of years ago, where is its lost sur- 
plus weight? Nothing is lost — nothing can be lost — but 
it has gone somewhere, it is going somewhere every day. 
Of course it will be eons of ages, to man, before it will all 
be spiritualized, but in the meantime what has become of 
this enormous bulk of matter that it has already lost? 
Let me tell you — let me whisper it softly in your ear: It 
has gone to form beautiful, exquisite, sublimated mate- 
rial, ethereal, spiritual spheres or zones, which lie all 
around the earth in different stratas, one above another; 
the first commencing just beyond the dense atmosphere 
of earth. 

Now I want some of you savants to contradict me in a 
kind way, so that you may not raise my ire and indigna- 
tion, for I am not yet beyond indignation and I cannot 
say when I shall be. I have not yet found any spirit who 
is, for if they were beyond feeling they would cease to feel 
love, in fact, cease to have any feelings whatever. Per- 
haps you may say that I cannot prove that the earth is 
lighter in weight and larger in circumference than it was 
some few millions of years ago; but I think I can. 

A porous body is lighter than a solid one, and the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 283 

earth is more porous, by far, to-day, than it was a few mill- 
ion years ago. Sponge is lighter than rock, and the earth 
is far spongier than it once was. A thistle-down is lighter 
than a pebble of the same size. The earth is more downy, 
by far, than it once was. Anything which is pulverized 
occupies a larger area, or takes up more space than that 
which is compact and solid. 

Can anyone deny that the earth has been pulverizing 
for millions of years? There was a time when the whole 
face of the earth was a vast body of rock and water, and, 
my friends, it was not nearly as large as it is at present, 
besides it had not on its whole surface so much as a par- 
ticle of moss, and not a living thing within its waters for 
they were at the boiling point and could not sustain life. 
Life came later when they were cool enough; and moss 
could not grow upon the rocks because they were too hot, 
it could not form until they cooled a little, and at that 
time, my friends, the earth had not a spiritual sphere 
about it. The moon has no spiritual sphere at present, 
that is in store for it. But as soon as the germs of life 
could develop, the spiritual spheres began to form, yet 
this period is so remotely in the past that finite man can 
scarcely conceive of it, or infinite man with his present 
limitations; moreover, all planets which are nearest the 
sun are heavier and smaller than those farther away; 
those far on beyond the earth are larger and lighter even 
than the earth. These facts alone ought to be proof 
enough of the truth of my assertion. 

Jupiter weighs far less than the earth according to its 
bulk, being a more perfect world and not a mass of fire as 
some may think. They are simply mistaken, that is all, 
and reason from wrong premises. A world cannot be 
made from fire, for fire is combustion, it destroys and scat- 
ters instead of coalescing and condensing. 

No world is made of fire. Fire is simply an effect. 
Something is being consumed by the action, or driven 
apart, or changed into an elementary state; consequently 
one can see at a glance that the solid, compact earth can- 
not be made of fire, or fire-mist, but by the attraction and 
coalescing of atoms, which contain all the principles of 
earthly matter. 

But, even at this, the earth is a secondary world, being 
a child of the sun, or a ring cast off from the sun, but the 
sun was first formed in the way above mentioned. Of 



284 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

course I cannot enter into a very long dissertation in this 
short letter, but Professor Franz Petersilea has written it 
all out in his books. "Oceanides," one of his books, will 
tell you all about it in the most charming way possible. 
It only costs fifty cents. Get it and read it. It will also 
show you what a woman once suffered from the intemper- 
ance of her husband, and the abuse he heaped upon her. 
Get it, 0, ye women who are supinely suffering under 
such horrors, as thousands of you are at the present day, 
although this happened many years ago. 

But you, egotistical men. I warn you not to read it. 
Ye dames who are happy and have good husbands, or even 
passable ones, you need not get it. ■ It is not meant or 
written for you. But you, my poor, suffering sisters, tied 
to drunkenness and debauchery, squeeze out fifty cents 
and go buy it. It will do you good. It will show you the 
spirit world as it is — it will show you the happiness and 
joy that is yet in store for you. You can get it from the 
office of The Progressive Thinker, and every book pur- 
chased may the blessings of the angel world rest upon the 
purchaser. Read it and they will — be sure of that. The 
angels wrote it or caused it to be written, for a comfort 
and blessing to you, and they will comfort and bless all 
who read it if they read it in the right spirit, for in the 
spirit of love was it written. The one through whom it was 
written would give it without money and without price, 
but it has cost him a number of hundreds of dollars, which 
he earned in other ways, and he can illy afford to lose 
them, for it costs money to live in the material world; but 
this book was not written for the purpose of making 
money out of mediumship. He only desires to receive 
back that which the book cost him in actual cash, for, ow- 
ing to the prejudice of the world against Spiritualism, he 
cannot earn the money he once could. But I am diverg- 
ing from my subject, which I will continue in my next 
letter. Yours Truly, MADAM 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 285 



LETRER NUMBER FOURTEEN. 



Now the great laws of chemical affinity hold good here 
as on earth, and are far hetter understood. 

Why do the waters of earth seek each other, and all 
seek a level? Chemical affinity. Why does the dry land 
hold itself together? Attraction of gravitation and chem- 
ical affinity; and these two great laws run through all 
things, and they are just as operative here in the spirit 
world, as they are on the earth. When the emanations or 
refined essences rise up, or are pushed up by the dense at- 
mosphere, they do not return to earth, they are too subli- 
mated; the earthly attraction of gravitation has no more 
power over them, but the great law of chemical affinity 
still holds good and they come under a still higher law of 
the attraction of gravitation — in other words they attract 
and gravitate together to form a sublimated spiritual 
world, more beautiful than tongue can tell or brush can 
paint. The ethereal waters seek each other, and their 
level, as on earth, the difference being that one is mate- 
rial, the other ethereal; one exists in the dense atmos- 
phere, the other in the ethereal atmosphere or ether. 

That which forms our land is also drawn together by 
the higher or more spiritual law of gravitation, or the at- 
traction of gravitation and chemical affinity, and thus 
we have land, or ethereal land, hills, dales and mountains; 
by the same laws we have trees, vegetation, grass, flowers, 
shrubs; but fish, insect, and animal life are egos or entities 
as on earth, and are from the earth as are also the ethe- 
real essences or emanations that rise up from the earth. 
These developed entities, or egos, which once dwelt with- 
in the ethereal atmosphere as germs, rise again as enti- 
ties or egos into it, and are once more clothed, but this 
time in sublimated, ethereal matter, yet all things are, 
after all, egos, or entities, clothed in ethereal matter. 



286 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

It is very strange to ine that the learned men of earth 
should always be delving in coarse matter to find out what 
they want to know, just as though there were no atmos- 
phere in which all life originates, or ethereal space where- 
in may be found all things and the cause of all things. 
Nothing originates within earthly matter, but all things 
originate within the atmosphere or ether. 

A flower or plant of any kind does not draw its life 
from the earth, its roots simply find lodgment there to 
hold or sustain it in place, then the little rootlets seek 
water or moisture within the damp ground, but its life, its 
beauty, its color, are all drawn from the atmosphere, not 
from the earth. Plant a seed and cover it tightly away 
from the light, the sun, and the air, and see if it will de- 
velop into a tree, shrub or flower, or vegetation of any 
kind; and no seed can ever be formed without the ethereal 
germ; and all will come to know this sooner or later. 

When one talks of life commencing and living within 
all matter, one is talking nonsense. Life exists in a ger- 
minal state within the atmosphere, and enters matter 
through the great laws of chemical affinity and the attrac- 
tion of gravitation. 

Now I do hope I have made myself clear, for I want to 
tell you more about this glorious world wherein I now 
dwell, and I don't want people to think that my sensitive's 
mind is unsound, as has been stated by many who desire 
to injure him. It is because his mind is sweet and sound 
and rises up to meet the beauty and grandeur of the spirit- 
ual, that we are able to write at all. 

Lady and I soon found that we could not return 

to earth any more in our material spiritual bodies, and so 
we concluded that, for a time at least, we would not visit 
earth, not until we understood the spiritual better and 
were better fitted to teach of things as they really were, or 
as we had found them; not until we had a work to do, a 
mission to perform; and that time has now come. But, 
while I am writing this letter, my sublimated material 
spiritual body is at rest in the spirit world, but my soul, 
my astral and thought bodies are here with this medium, 
or sensitive rather, for I like that word better, it better 
expresses the truth. 

Now do not wonder at this which I tell you and think 
it not true. You do not think it at all strange that you 
go to sleep on earth; in fact you cannot exist without 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 287 

sleep, but your soul doesn't sleep, the astral body doesn't 
sleep, and the thought body is as busy as ever. 

"Well," you ask me, "what does sleep?" and I reply: 
Nothing sleeps. The body and material brain become 
weary and need replenishing, the soul takes the astral and 
thought bodies with it and goes a visiting, that is all, leav- 
ing the body quiescent, but the soul takes good care not to 
break the magnetic cord which binds it to the body, in 
other words it is bound to it by the great law of magnetic 
attraction, which it may not sever until the body becomes 
unfit for it to dwell in, then the cord is severed and the 
body no longer has the power of holding itself together 
through the law of magnetic attraction. The soul, 
clothed in its thought and astral bodies, now gravitates, 
through the law of magnetic attraction, to the spiritual 
realm. 

You now ask me why the material body does not re- 
member that which the soul has been busy in receiving? 
and I answer: The soul does not talk and think as the 
body does, it does not analyze and compare as the mate- 
rial brain does. It receives and stores up energy. Shall 
we call it soul-power? Shall we call it will, strength, en- 
ergy, to run the machine? for the body is simply an engine 
or machine run by the will-power, energy and strength of 
the soul, and the soul must be replenished. Nothing can 
be continually exhausted without being replenished from 
some source, and the soul is fed and replenished from the 
great reservoir of soul, or over-soul. I do not mean by 
this, a God, or a God in the form of a person, but the 
Great Soul-Fountain of all that is or was or ever shall be. 
I cannot make it any clearer to you than this. But when 
the body is laid aside and we enter the spiritual, all things 
are changed in this respect. The soul still drinks at the 
great Soul-Fountain, but the spirit body has become so 
clear and refined that like a superfine sensitive plate it 
holds and remembers all things, for memory is simply 
spiritual photography — be sure and remember that — pho- 
tography that never fades. The soul also remembers all 
that ever transpired to it while in the body of coarser ma- 
terial substance. 

Now Lady and I visited a great many temples and 

halls of learning that we might acquire this knowledge, 
and we must also have a home of our own in this beautiful 
world, where we could rest, where we could enjoy home 



288 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

just as you do on earth, where we could surround our- 
selves with beautiful things. Other people's homes were 
not ours and spiritual beings differ in their tastes just as 
you do on earth. Some seek one thing and some another. 
Some like one employment and some another. There is 
not in all the spheres one home exactly like another, and 
no two spirits are alike: They all differ just as you do. 
We do not care to be beggars or tramps, any more than 
you do, and by this I mean we did not care to intrude on 
the privacy of other spirits to their discomfort; we did not 
care to lie down in the open fields, or lanes, or by the pub- 
lic highways, for we surely have them here, and as all 
other spirits seemed to have homes we became aware of 
the necessity of having one also. 

Although we found, as you do on earth, a natural spirit- 
ual world, we did not find homes already made for us, no 
more than you do on earth, unless some dearly loved one 
has already builded one for the one thus loved. 

To be sure I could have entered the home of some of 
my relatives, but I did not wish to. 

My earthly father and mother had been in the spheres 
for a great length of time. I was not fitted to dwell with- 
in their supernal heights, and to have a home of my own 
was the very most natural thing to do. I did not care to 

live all alone, neither did Lady , so we concluded to 

build one together, which we did. 

Professor Franz Petersilea has told you how we build 
our homes here, and I can add nothing more. He has 
told you the truth. 

Our homes are first modeled within our minds, accord- 
ing to our tastes and desires; the thought is a thing and 
takes on or clothes itsself with sublimated material sub- 
stance, which it attracts according to the law of magnetic 
attraction and the spiritual attraction of gravitation, con- 
sequently we soon had a home according to our united 
desires. I will not weary you by describing it; enough to 
say it suited us to a charm and was as beautiful as a 
dream; for the so-called dreams of the imagination are 
spiritual realities; for we dreamed or imagined the home 
in our minds; and you do precisely the same thing on 
earth. You first dream or image your home in your 
mind, then you clothe it with stone, brick, or wood, as you 
please. We here clothe ours as we please, but do not use 
the coarser, more material brick, stone or wood; but, if we 



LETTERS PROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 289 

think intently of a beautiful jewel, or any other sub- 
stance, the thought has form and attracts through mag- 
netic chemical affinity substantial matter according to the 
thought. 

Now I read in the mind of the sensitive, and also in 
many other minds of earth, this: Rev. Minot Savage and 
Rev. Heber Newton have said, much to the delight of 
their people, that they think there must be homes and em- 
ployments similar to those of earth within the heavens or 
heavenly spheres. If they call it heaven, what does it 
matter? It means the same thing; and when they uttered 
these thoughts, they uttered eternal verities or truths, and 
I have been trying to tell you how these homes are build- 
ed, how the halls and temples are erected, and how people 
follow the bent of their gifts and inclinations. It is use- 
less to talk of homes, halls, and temples, without compre- 
hending, in a measure, how they come to be; how they 
are built; what they rest upon, and by what they are sur- 
rounded; and this task seems to devolve on a band of 
spirits called together for the purpose. I belong to this 

band, so does Lady , so does Franz Petersilea, and a 

great many others, and we have chosen this sensitive to 
give it to the world. 

Of course there are other sensitives whom we use also, 
but this one is one of the best, and I implore you all to lis- 
ten gravely and respectfully, at least. 

No one can believe, unless that to be believed appeals to 
his reason and judgment, but all can listen with respect 
and then think out these problems for themselves, and we 
ever stand ready to help them when they call in all sin- 
cerity for us to do so. 

There have been those who have said that if spirits 
builded their homes in the way we have told them we did, 
they, the spirits, must be insane. Now I shall ask those 
who have said this: How are the homes in the Spiritual 
World builded? Do the spirits cut down trees, have saw- 
mills and planing machines, and all the other parapher- 
nalia that goes toward the building of an earthly home? 
Do they burn brick, make mortar and so forth ? Do they 
quarry stone? No one can suppose that they do these 
things; the one who could would certainly be more insane 
than the spirits who give truthful information on the 
subject. The spirits certainly have employments, but 
hard manual labor is left on earth, and only appertains to 



290 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

earth. We could not cut a tree if we wished. The tree 
is spiritual and cannot be hewn down — moreover, if we 
have homes here they must be built by ourselves, other- 
wise who would build them? Even if we entered a shin- 
ing city already built, there must have been those who 
builded it. But enough. I have told you the truth. 

Now everything that comes under the head of art, or 
construction, is constructed in the same way — the same 
principles hold good — but the natural spiritual world ex- 
ists the same as your natural earth does. Of course the 
laws already mentioned bring into requisition all the 
power that resides within man, or spirit, and by this you 
see that our employments are as varied as those of earth, 
and even more so, for we have many things here not yet 
wrought out on earth, for everything you have there is 
given down to you, from the spheres, through the mind or 
by photographic impressions upon the mind bv spirits. 
^ Yours Truly, MADAM ........ • 



LETRER NUMBER FIFTEEN. 



Those who have read what has been written in my 
former letters, cannot fail to see that this spiritual world 
is a type of the earthly world, exceedingly more refined 
and beautiful, where we have all that you have on earth 
on a higher, more exalted, heavenly plane; that we follow 
all the occupations that you follow on earth, and that, as 
a rule, we are much wiser than you are. 

Of course, there are ignorant spirits here as there, but 
they do not remain so long. They cannot in the nature 
of things. I hope that I have proved to all reasoning- 
minds that we live and move and have our being much as 
you do there; that we have homes, temples, halls, labora- 
tories, conservatories, grand wisdom edifices, wireless tel- 
egraphy, boats of all kinds, photography, thought photog- 
raphy, hypnotic suggestion — that is the very thing that 
T am engaged iu doing at ibis moment — music, theaters. 
psychical investigation societies tor the purpose of inves- 
tigating the powers of the soul; for, although we are spir- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 291 

its, we do not as yet understand all about the soul. We 
also study botany, natural history, astronomy; but our ob- 
servatories are somewhat different from yours. 

Professor Franz Petersilea has described some of our 
clock observatories very accurately; moreover, we study 
all about the manners and customs of the inhabitants of 
other planets and their fauna and flora, for no two plan- 
ets are exactly alike, no more than two things or two per- 
sons are just alike. Coarse, hard manual labor is left be- 
hind with the body. 

Now you ask me: Do the spirits eat? and my reply is, 
Yes, they do; but they do no coarse feeding. Nothing 
can live and be sustained without replenishment, for we 
are constantly throwing off substance, just as you are 
there, excepting that our substance is sublimated mat- 
ter, while yours is coarse matter. 

Now I am aware that many will laugh at my assertion. 
Let them, and let them contradict it if they will, and 
then tell us how the spiritual body is sustained, for it is 
composed of sublimated matter, just as sure as we live. 

"Do you have all the organs there which belong to the 
body here?" 

Yes, we do; we certainly do. Contradict it, ye wise 
ones, if you will, but if the life of the earthly body is the 
spirit thereof, and the spirit is in the form of the earthly 
body — which it certainly is — have we not organs similar 
to those of earth? Do we have hands and not a stomach? 
Do we have a head and not a heart? Do we have feet 
and not brains? Every organ of the body that you have, 
we have also, for it is the life or the spirit of those very 
organs that we take with us when the body dies. 

Now if we have feet, it is that we may walk. If we 
have eyes, it is that we may see; if ears, that we may hear; 
if a brain, that we may think; a stomach, that we may 
digest food. Each and every organ fulfills its duty here 
as there, except the organs of reproduction. Reproduc- 
tion belongs only to earth; still, we possess the organs, 
but they do not reproduce. Like the fruits of earth, all 
seed germs take root only in material substance. Now 
the question is: How and what do we eat? We eat every- 
thing that is good for food — that is, to feed the subli- 
mated material body. Our food necessarily is sublimated 
material. We cannot take life of anykind. therefore wo 
can not eat animal flesh. I would like to make this 



292 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

world as clear to you as possible. If in your world 
peaches grow on trees, they do in our world, for the subli- 
mated tree is here, or the spirit of the tree, filled with 
luscious peaches without stones, or pits, or much skin, for 
as I said, seed germs gravitate to the material earths, but 
the sublimated essences gravitate to this world. If you 
have grapes there, so do we here, plentifully, without the 
seed or skin. The skin of our fruit is soft, sweet and 
waxen, and the luscious fruit melts in the mouth with- 
out much mastication. 

Vegetables grow here in our soil, but we do not culti- 
vate them The sweet, pure, refined essences of these 
things rise up from earth and gravitate to their proper 
places and appear very much as your vegetables do. We 
take them from our spiritual ground and eat them as they 
are, without cooking. We do no cooking. That neces- 
sity is done away with. 

Do we sweep and dust and clean as you do on earth? 
ISTo. This same question has been brought up in other 
minds before now. No; we are not obliged to sweep or 
dust. We have no material dust. Dust is coarse matter. 
But there are filthy spirits as well as filthy men and wo- 
men. There are really spirits in the lower sphere who 
actually wallow in filth, but the filth is of the mind and, 
as I have before stated, thoughts are things and become 
objective, and gather about them sublimated matter cor- 
responding to the thought, but when we think pure, 
sweet, clean thoughts, they gather clothing to corre- 
spond. 

Now the question is, "If we eat, do other animals eat 
those lower in the scale than ourselves?" Yes, other an- 
imals eat; but not each other. They are a step higher in 
the scale of being. All herbivorous animals eat of the 
sweet, sublimated herbage and grass, the ethereal essence 
of such as you have on earth; also fish feed on the subli- 
mated essences within the ethereal waters. 

Now you say, "Well, the carnivorous animals; how is 
it with them?" Men of earth at the present day are ex- 
tremely carnivorous. There is not a carnivorous animal 
on the earth that slays and eats equal to man and really 
there are but few carnivorous animals after all, and the 
greater part of these are not wholly so. The hear will 
sometimes kill a man in self-defense, or at least it thinks 
so, but it seldom eats him. The bear much prefers wild 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 293 

berries, roots and nuts, to flesh. The lion will also kill 
a man, given a chance; but he thinks he is thereby pro- 
tecting his mate and little ones. The lion in its natural 
state is not wholly carnivorous; it also eats tender shoots 
and green twigs. 

Man is really more carnivorous than any other animal. 
There are more cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, fish and game 
slain and eaten by man than by all the carnivorous ani- 
mals in the world. 

Now if this carnivorous man, when he arrives here, 
ceases, from necessity, to slay and eat, it can readily be 
seen that the carnivouous animal can also, and it also 
can eat of the sublimated material essences to sustain its 
ethereal body. 

You must all see how exquisitely beautiful and useful 
the spiritual spheres are. The more beautiful our 
thoughts, the more beautiful our surroundings. You can 
also see that reincarnation is not true, or at all necessary. 

Lady and I loved beautiful things, and we soon 

had a home corresponding to our thoughts — a home 
wherein we could entertain many guests, for we intended 
to give entertainments. We did not intend to lead the 
lives" of recluses, but to be glad and merry. Company, 
merriment and gladness did not at all interfere with the 
attainment of wisdom or knowledge; quite the contrary, 
they were great aids in the quest. We found that spirit- 
ual beings were very social, and we intended to make the 
most of social life. All spirits who have gained wisdom 
or knowledge in any direction are eager to quickly impart 
it to others; for this is a great and beneficent natural law, 
and one of the happiest ways 4s in meeting together for 
the purpose of each imparting to the others whatever 
point in wisdom they have gained; be it ever so small, it 
matters not. 

These social or home gatherings are by invitation. The 
public institutions are for all. For instance: We hear of 
the death on earth and the birth into spirit life of some 
great musical, or literary man or woman. Suppose, for 
instance, it is music in which he or she excelled, and we 
give an entertainment or reception to the new comer; con- 
sequently we invite as many of the most gifted and fa- 
mous musical geniuses as is convenient for us to enter- 
tain, or as can be reached and can come; then we send an 
urgent request for the new-born spirit to come also, and 



294 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

such seldom fail to respond. Now we do very much as 
you do on earth, bring into play the most beautiful 
thoughts and desires and good feelings possible, whicli 
clothes us in dazzling splendor and beauty. We appear 
clothed much as you do on earth. 

A lady on earth thinks how she would like to be 
dressed. She then buys the material and employs a 
dressmaker; but we are not obliged to do all this. We 
think how we should like to be dressed — we desire to ap- 
pear so and so — and our ethereal clothing forms about us 
according to our desires. The time at which the com- 
pany is to arrive has been appointed and they are punc- 
tual. 

Now the new-comer meets the very ones that he has so 
long worshiped, and longed to see and hear, and soon they 
are engaged in the art they all loved so well, and the 
grand old masters — who are now young, vigorous and 
beautiful, and have learned very much more than they 
knew on earth — are performing some of their grandest 
and most heavenly music, while the new-born is listening- 
in an ecstasy of delight, and thinking how little he really 
knew, after all, about music. 

There is something else I wish to impress forcibly on 
the minds of earth. Don't think we are forever in high 
flown ecstasy. We were made to be happy, laugh and be 
merry, and after we have the music we chat, laugh, joke, 
exchange ideas, or thoughts, poke fun, and have a gay and 
enjo}^able time generally, in a refined and spiritual way, 
never descending to vulgarity. We leave that to the 
vicious and the vulgar. There is in another apartment a 
banquet spread, and the brilliancy and beauty of that 
spread is beyond anything on earth. We have what ap- 
pears to be wine, yet is not like the wine of earth but a 
sparkling elixir of life that is a feeder of the spiritual life 
currents within us; we also have sparkling water. Our 
table is loaded with spiritual fruit, nuts, bread-fruit, and 
all the most dainty and delicate things imaginable that 
do not require cooking or the taking of life. Our table 
is decorated with flowers, besides other beautiful and 
sparkling decorations. The walls of the apartment are 
lined with exquisite paintings from the greatest masters 
of the art who have ever lived on earth, and a large num- 
ber of little gems are set between. Now we take seats at 
this festive board and cat daintily. We talk and laugh 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 295 

and are gay and happy. After supper we trip the light 
fantastic toe; we dance spiritual dances.. Can one sup- 
pose that spirits never laugh, never dance, never make 
merry? Oh, you are mistaken. 

Now I, before coming to this life, had become a very 
large, fat old lady, weighing more than two hundred 
pounds. Of course my dancing days were over, but my 
heart often danced, and when I saw the young and beau- 
tiful dance and make merry, I used to think sadly: "Can 
I never dance and be light-hearted more?" and I know 
that thousands of my earthly sisters often think the 
same. Cheer up, dear ones, your dancing days are not 
over, simply postponed for a short time. Soon you will 
be once more youthful, light, gay and happy beyond 
compare, and as beautiful as you can possibly desire. 
Now you must know that all these things exist here, else 
how could we educate our little ones — the babies and lit- 
tle children that come here at all times from earth? 
These little spirits must have their play, their games, as 
on earth; the young people must have amusement, they 
must, according to their nature, dance as on earth, and 
the old return again to their halcyon days. 

Now all the teaching that our children have here is 
given in the form of play or amusement, and they seek it 
with avidity. No child is forced to do anything against 
its natural bent, and they should not be on earth. 

Yours truly, MADAM 



296 LETTEKS FROM THE SP1K1T WORLD. 



LETTER NUMBER SIXTEEN. 



No men or women should follow any calling that they 
do not like — that does not make them happy. 

I know many hard-worked sewing women, on earth, 
who repine thus: "How I wish I were rich and could 
queen it in society. At my next reincarnation" — I am 
now speaking of those who believe in reincarnation — "I 
hope I shall be born into the family of a king, prince, or 
millionaire, that I may be a queen in society and a fash- 
ionable leader among the elite." 

My poor darlings, you won't have to wait to be rein- 
carnated, neither will it be at all necessary. You can be 
a queen in the spirit world just as soon as you are ready. 
You can be a leader among the elite just as soon as you 
are fitted to lead and have wisdom enough. It is knowl- 
edge that will make you happy here, not riches. I was 
once a needle-woman myself, in my earlier days on earth. 
Ah! I know just how you feel, and I will help all sewing- 
women; that is part of my mission. 
' I, at length, grew old and large, as I said before, but 
now I am youthful and light and, they tell me, very beau- 
tiful. I can trip the light fantastic toe with the best. I 
wanted to be a leader also, for, although of noble birth, 
my fortunes had fallen; but it is all right now. I be- 
came somewhat of a leader in thought, later in life, as well 
as an authoress. Ah! I made many mistakes and who 
does not? Our mistakes make us stronger in the end. 
By a mistake I mean that which we do not know to be 

such that which we think is right at the time — that 

is mistake; but when one knows a thing to be wrong, that 
is evil, fraud, sin, that will have to be atoned for with 
pain and suffering; our mistakes, even, must be atoned 
for, but they do not bring the same remorse and suffering 
that wilful sin or evil does. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 297 

I forgot to tell you that my reception did not consist of 
great men alone, there was an equal number of great or 
gifted women present. I am a woman and I am deter- 
mined to take the part of women. Do you think those 
men would have been very happy all alone by themselves? 
Why, they would need women there, if for no other reason 
but that they might worship them. Yet we did not 
worship them, we didn't think they were a bit better or 
more gifted than we were, and we were women just as 
much as we had been on earth, and they were men just 
the same as they had been. 

I tell you, friends, we were even more womanly than 
we had been, and the men were more manly. Don't let 
that old, foolish idea get into your minds — that the spir- 
its and angels are neither men nor women, but all as 
one sex. Nothing can be more untrue. The same law 
holds good here as on earth. We do not bear children, to 
be sure, but I never had a child when I was on earth, and 
there are thousands of other women who never bore chil- 
dren, but they are women for all that, just as much wo- 
men as though they had borne children, and no woman 
bears children after a certain age. Is that any reason 
why she is not a woman, and just as much a woman as 
though she had? 

Now you ask me: "Is there, then, love -between the 
sexes?" and I answer most emphatically, yes! What en- 
nobles a man or woman more than deep and constant 
love — eternal love, if you please? On earth it is the 
foundation of all things; without it nothing can be; with- 
out it there can be no men or women. Love is the crea- 
tor of all things — sexual love, not platonic. How else 
could justice ever come to those who die young or in in- 
fancy? Are they never to know the joys of love? Out 
upon such nonsense! Are the unmarried and lonely 
never to know love and companionship of husband and 
wife? Are those who are most miserably mated to vi- 
cious, debauched and drunken husbands — or sometimes 
the reverse — are they never to know the joys of true love 
and companionship of a good, true husband or wife? 
Think again, my friends. 

No; our spirit children grow up, they love, they mate 
and marry very much as you do, except that they are 
taught to whom they rightly belong and make no miser- 
able mistakes. 



298 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

A good and pure girl does not marry a vile man.' 
Goodness is matched with goodness and purity with pur- 
ity, and that is as it should be on earth. 

Why, you ought to see some of the glorious weddings 
we have here. The act of a priest saying a few words 
over them does not marry them here. 

Now, I don't want to be misconstrued. I don't want 
any body to think that this is not necessary on earth. No 
doubt it is, although it does not constitute true marriage; 
but, of course, as you are now, it is necessary, at least you 
think it is, and as one thinks so it is; but we do not marry 
that way here. A patriarch may say a few words of bless- 
ing over a young couple; but we celebrate marriage here as 
on earth, and our celebrations are often most grand and 
impressive. I hope to write you about one sometime, but 
I will add here that the sole end and aim of marriage is 
not propagation. It appears so sometimes on earth, but 
you will soon learn better when you get here. Husbands 
and wives on earth who have been married a great many 
years and have ceased to bear children, if they ever had 
any, find that their happiest time has been after they are 
too old to have children; they are more truly united, if 
there is any unity between them at all, than they were in 
their younger days; their love for each other is stronger; 
they grow into a oneness, or unity, that they knew noth- 
ing of at first; and if they are truly united they go on to- 
gether in this life, happy and joyful. 

Now, Professor Franz Petersilea has told me that he 
wrote, twenty years ago, about the employments in 
heaven. At that time no one seemed to accept it as true, 
not even Spiritualists. He sent the book, which he 
called "The Discovered Country" — for truly he felt that 
he had discovered a country new to him — by influencing 
his son, to a number of publishers, who, on glancing it 
over, considered that he was losing his mind, and returned 
it with most uncomplimentary remarks; but the son did 
not lose heart. He knew that the spirit of his father 
wrote it; he had evidence upon evidence of the fact, and 
he knew, also, that his father was not capable of false- 
hood, especially to the son he loved best of all the world; 
and now see how the world has moved on. Such men 
as Rev. M. J. Savage and Rev. Heber Newton, and many 
other divines, not only believe it but preach it from their 
pulpits; and who now thinks of calling them insane? No- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 299 

body. And now nearly all Spiritualists believe it. They 
are a little more chary about animal life, but let that pass 
at present, except a word or two. 

That great and good man, Dr. J. M. Peebles says, as I 
now read in the mind of the medium, and as Professor 
Petersilea wrote twenty years ago: "The Spirit World is 
no shadowy realm but real and permanent. ** * * There 
are forests, fields, flowers, sparkling fountains, flowing 
rivers, pleasant grottos, immense libraries, palatial man^ 
sions with gorgeous domes constellated and astral; cot- 
tages and princely palaces with tessellated floors, tapes- 
tried walls, diamond pointed ceiling and scenery of tran- 
scendent loveliness/' 

Now I advise every one who has read this in The Pro- 
gressive Thinker, to copy it out in large, golden letters, 
and hang it in a conspicuous place in their very best room, 
and read it over thoughtfully every time the eye rests 
upon it. Professor Petersilea wrote the same thing 
twenty years ago, but no one believed him. 

Now, Dearest Dr. Peebles, I once knew you when I was 
in the form. Perhaps you will remember me and guess 
who I am. I will whisper my name in your ear at home, 
but it will never do to write it. Those words that you ut- 
tered were the grandest truths you ever uttered; but, dear 
Doctor, just think for a moment. Would not those for- 
ests look a little lonely without a particle of animal life 
there? Animal life is higher up the scale than forest life. 
Would not those groves and meadows lack something if 
there was not a bird there to sing? Would not those 
waters appear void without the beautiful fish? Would 
not those cottages and homes look as though they lacked 
something without a domestic animal pet such as horse, 
dog, cow, cat, bird, especially the dear little humming- 
bird and butterfly; and all these things are higher than 
the groves, the waters, the mountains, the fields, and so 
forth. Why did nature, or spiritual law, leave out the 
higher, or the middle strata of life, and accept, or form 
the lowest and the highest, the highest being the spirit 
of man, or human spirit? Dear Doctor, remember that 
spirit is life and life is spirit, no matter what that life may 
be, or in what form it appears. 

I now read in the mind of the medium: "But Dr. 
Peebles once said, or wrote, of a singing bird in the heav- 
ens, or spirit world." 



300 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Doctor, if one bird has been permitted to exist in the 
spheres, how can it be that all others are excluded? If 
one bird lives, all must, else it would be a miracle, and 
there are no miracles; and if one bird lives, all animal and 
insect life must live also, for natural law could not allow 
the birds to live and not other animal life as well, for 
a bird is but a flying animal. 0, Doctor, the truth is 
grander than even you thought it to be — but to go on 
with my subject. 

It is now conceded by nearly all Spiritualists, and 
taught by many divines, notably Rev. Savage and Rev. 
Newton, that there are employments in heaven much like 
those of earth; and this is true. Now if there are em- 
ployments, you must see at once that there must be 
amusements as well; and this is true; but the cruel sports 
are all left below and will go out of date there after 
awhile. People don't go fishing here, for fun, with a 
cruel barbed hook for the poor fish to swallow and then 
writhe in agony until they die. Men don't go out, here, 
to shoot poor, little birds, and other small, harmless ani- 
mals, for fun, and consider it fine sport; neither do they 
set hounds to chase poor little, defenseless rabbits and 
hares, that they may, at last, shoot cruel shot into their 
panting sides. Think of it, ye men who have immortal 
souls. Put a picture before your eyes of one poor, little, 
innocent hare, flying for its life before a pack of great 
baying hounds, and great men on foot and on horseback, 
flying after the hounds and rabbit that they may shoot 
the poor, little, terrified, defenseless mite. Look at your- 
selves, ye great, egotistical egos, and see how ridiculous 
you appear, and what horrible ogres you really are. 

No; there is nothing of that kind here in the spirit 
world, but all innocent and harmless amusements and 
sports we have. Theaters abound in the spirit world, but 
representations of vice and crime are left out. Our the- 
aters are great educators of the spirit people. Many who 
would not understand a scientific lecture, would enjoy 
and comprehend the same truths if given in a sparkling 
play; and, then, our youths and children need them, and 
they are enjoyed by both the learned and the unlearned, 
and, speaking in earthly parlance, by both young and old; 
then, we have great rejoicings and festivities of all kinds 
which are adapted to innocent minds and also wise ones. 

If we have water we also have boats, but they are pleas- 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 301 

ure boats. We do not have locomotives or cars; we do 
not need them. We do not have mills or factories; we do 
not need them. But concerts, theaters, lectures, balls, 
parties and receptions we do have in plenty, and a thou- 
sand other things that I cannot describe, for they tran- 
scend anything you have upon the earth, consequently I 
am not able to give it through the mind of a medium. 

No need to be reincarnated, my dears. You will find 
all that you need without it. 

All you on earth who have aspired to be actors and ac- 
tresses, but owing to circumstances could not, will find 
ample opportunity here. All who have aspired to be 
singers and musicians, but were disappointed, will be- 
come such here. Why, you ought to hear some of our 
prima donnas; nothing like it was ever heard on earth — 
and operas glorious! Plenty of opportunity for Wagner 
and all other great operatic composers. If you want to 
follow the calling of a music teacher, such calling you may 
follow with profit and pleasure and then give pupils' con- 
certs and other concerts, with grand Rubinstein often as 
leader, and as often Wagner, Mozart, and all the other 
mighty musicians. You may also lead, yourself, if you 
please and are qualified; and for lectures, teachers of all 
grades and descriptions, plenty of employment, here. No 
money in it, of course, but plentv of love, honor and re- 
spect — but for the old school of doctors there is no em- 
ployment. You will have to make the most of your time 
on earth, for there is no sickness among the spirits except 
that of the mind. But the hypnotic suggester will have 
a good time and plenty to do. Better turn your minds 
in that direction, my good doctors, else you will not be 
wanted. And you, creed-bound, orthodox divines and 
Catholics, better come along with the rest or you will be 
left far behind. 

Now, again, I read in the mind of the medium about an 
earthly teacher who adopted a little baby girl and taught 
her through what to her meant play or amusement; and 
she became one of the most learned of children. That is 
precisely what we do here, and the way we do it. Every- 
thing that a child or youth learns here is placed before it 
as pleasing amusement or play, or something that is de- 
lightful and beautiful; and that reminds me that you all 
ought to buy the book called, "Mary Ann Carew," written 
by herself through this medium. You will find it at the 



302 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

office of The Progressive Thinker. This lady was the 
mother of Carlyle Petersilea. She passed into spirit life 
when he was but three years of age. She had little chil- 
dren in the spirit world and left two or three on earth. 
In that book she describes how children are educated — 
tells of her own and others. The book is an exquisite his- 
tory of her own experience in the spirit world, and her 
maiden name on earth was, Mary Ann Carew. She was 
the first wife of Professor Franz Petersilea; a lovely and 
beautiful creature. I have often met this lady here, and 
know whereof I speak. 

We have no prisons, no penitentiaries, no police courts, 
no courts of any kind. All you officers and keepers oi 
those things, better turn your attention toward educa- 
tion, and ameliorating the condition of mankind, so that, 
after a little you may be able to turn your prisons, jails 
and pentitentiaries into educational halls and institutions 
of learning; then you will not feel so strange when you 
get here, and will find plenty of employment. 

All things of this nature that you commence on earth 
will reach up into the spheres and you can go right on 
with them, much to your delight. 

Yours truly, MADAM 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 303 



LETTER NUMBER SEVENTEEN. 



At this time I wish to write on the marriage question. 
The medium says, "0, Madam! Do not." But I am a 
woman and I will. When a woman says she will, she will; 
and when she says she won't, she wont; be sure of that. 
If I write at all I intend to write that which I wish to 
write. I am not writing to please the world, but to give 
to the world truthful information on subjects of para- 
mount importance, and if marriage is not an all-important 
subject, surely, what is? 

Now the medium says, "0, Madam! We shall be called 
free-lovers. We shall have it said of us that we exert a 
pernicious influence. It will not do to write on the mar- 
riage question at all, dear Madam." 

Won't it? We shall see. It would take a great many 
egotistical egos to hinder me, I think. 

As I said before, I am a woman, and when with you in 
the flesh, suffered the most horrible agonies and untold 
tortures from a so-called marriage, a marriage contracted 
in the first flush of my early girlhood, a marriage contract- 
ed when I was an innocent, unsophisticated child, ready 
and willing to trust the whole world, not understanding, 
in the least, the base wickedness, the two-faced falseness, 
the egotistical, dominant, domineering qualities that are 
possessed by a very large proportion of the male half of 
the world. Of course I mean the earthly world, for it is 
to those in the flesh I am writing. 

If there can be anything more awful and pernicious 
than a base, false alliance between a man and a woman, I 
am yet to know it. It is one of the great, black, deadly 
nightmares under which the world is laboring at the pres- 
ent time, blindly, ignorantly stumbling on, not willing to 
wake up and understand truth as it is, although suffering 
in the nightmare's clutch, with faculties all benumbed. 



304 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

I call upon your divorce courts to witness the truth of 
my statement, also the wretched, suffering wives who are 
not divorced. I am not talking to those who are reason- 
ably well mated; not to those who might be much happier 
together if they but made the effort; not to those who 
might adapt themselves to each other if they would; not 
to those who desire to be re-united in the spirit world; no, 
not to any of these — all who wish to be reunited in the 
spirit world will, or may be, if they have not rendered it 
impossible by their own baseness — but to those who are 
irretrievably and entirely miserable; to those where there 
can be no union no matter what methods might be 
adopted. 

Your world is reeling under this stupendous burden, 
calling loudly for help, for wisdom, for knowledge on this 
great and all-important subject; but if one dares to rise up 
and speak or write on the marriage question, the dogs are 
let loose and the hue and cry begins, "Free lover! Affinity 
hunter! Pernicious doctrine! Soul mates! Two halves that 
make one whole! 0, horrible!" 

Keep quiet. Hide your head. Let the dominant male 
tell you what you ought to write and say; just as Paul did 
in the days long gone by. Cover your heads, 0, ye wo- 
men! Be abased and shamefaced, and dare not to speak 
in public or in the church; suffer and be silent, ye slaves 
and vassals! Creep home and ask the dominant male, if 
you desire to know anything, and he will tell you precisely 
what he wants to. It is his wishes and desires that you 
are to obey. Dare not to differ from him in anything, for 
is not his word law? Is he not the ruler of the world? 
And I answer sadly, He is at present. Not because he is 
worthy to be, but because he is the positive, dominant 
party; he, at present, represents positive brute force. 

But changes are coming to you. Slowly and gradually 
the spiritual shall arise and Truth shall take woman by 
the hand and lead her forth from her bondage, for man, or 
the dominant, positive, egotistical ego has thus far made 
her a slave. If Truth points upward and says to her in 
her misery, "you are yet destined, in that higher world, to 
be united to the other half of yourself, to the one you 
failed to meet on earth, who will be your loving and joyful 
companion, the completement of your spirit and soul/' we 
hear the cry, from the dominant male, of course, "seeth- 
ing passion!" Why, the seething passion is within the 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 305 

one who cries; he is looking through his own passions. 
Pure, holy, soul love, does not abide with him; and he 
who cries "free love," is usually a free lover in secret, or 
worse. Love is not the word. The other word I will 
omit, but it begins with an L. The one who calls out, 
"affinity hunter," is usually he % who leers at every woman 
he meets, and secretly follows a poor but pretty shop girl 
returning home from her work at ten o'clock in the even- 
ing, and insults her on the first dark corner. 

Friends, I know whereof I speak. I was a shop girl, 
for a short time, myself, on earth; or if not a girl, a very 
young woman whom they called pretty, and scarcely a 
night passed as I hastened home from my toil, weary and 
well nigh heart-broken, timid and frightened, that some 
one of the male sex did not secretly follow and accost me 
at the first favorable opportunity where he thought he 
should not be noticed by others. With disgusted and 
averted face, my weary feet would quicken almost into a 
run and, with wildly fluttering heart, at length reach my 
own door or, rather, the door of the house wherein I had 
a poor little room. But it was a haven and home to me 
then, a refuge and rest, although a lonely one, from in- 
sult. And these are the very men who cry "free love" 
the loudest and most vehemently; and I now know that 
they were, the most of them, church members and follow- 
ers after Paul, who had faithful wives at home from 
whom they expected and exacted obedience; and if these 
modest, shamefaced wives wanted to know anything, they 
must ask their husbands in all meekness, and these pre- 
cious husbands would tell them what they pleased, always 
omitting the fact that they had followed a pretty shop- 
woman, hoping thereby to gain her favor; but before re- 
turning home to these meek wives, they usually gained fa- 
vors in other directions. Perhaps from some poor victim 
of some other man's wiles. 

Now any man who reads this, being perfectly innocent 
of anything of this nature, we do not mean you. You 
are at liberty to step one side; but all men who are guilty, 
I arraign you before a tribunal of justice, for, let me tell 
you, there is a strict law of justice and recompense for all 
deeds done in the body, or in the spirit, for that matter. 

Thousands of wives, such as I have mentioned, come to 
the spirit world before their husbands. Shortly after ar- 
riving here they very naturally return and put themselves 



30G LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WOULD. 

en rapport with the husbands they have so lately left, 
when the entire secret lives of the husbands lie before 
them like an open book. How many poor wives who 
have loved their husbands devotedly, who have never 
wavered in their love and truthfulness to them, have I 
watched as they recoiled in horror upon reading page after 
page of the supposedly hidden vices; how many have I 
watched as they turned away disgusted and sorrowful, 
their wifely love dying within them at the sight of that 
which they had never before even suspected. 

Now all you honorable gentlemen who have not had 
vices, nor have been untruthful nor disloyal to your wives, 
you are not meant, and the love of your wives when they 
return to you in spirit will suffer no diminution, they will 
be likely to remain near you, providing your love for them 
continues, and wait for you until you join them in the 
spirit world. But if you marry another woman in the 
earth life, as the most of you do, what then? 

No man or woman is entitled to more than one husband 
or wife, for we are not polygamous here in the spirit 
world, that is, not the enlightened portion of it. 

There are many men who have had two, or three, or 
even four wives, and some women have had as many hus- 
bands — I do not mean those who have been separated by 
diverce, but by so-called death — and you are told by some 
of your earthly savants that husbands and wives, together 
with their families, are reunited in the spiritual world. 
Now which husband and which wife is the one to whom 
they are reunited? These same savants, in the same 
breath, will tell you that they neither marry nor are given 
in marriage in the heavens, still they say that husbands 
and wives are reunited in the heavens or spirit world. 

According to this there can be but a very small num- 
ber thus reunited, for there are but verv few men or wo- 
men on earth who have not had more than one husband 
or wife. There are comparatively few aged couples who 
have lived together up to near the period of transition, 
very few indeed, and if you were here with me you would 
know it. 

Now, as Mr. Ingersoll often said and still says: "Let us 
be reasonable." Perhaps one man and one woman in ten 
i linusand has been fortunate enough to marry and live to- 
gether up to near the departure of one another. If such 



LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. :iif, 

are reunited and only such, where does the law of justice 
come in? 

These savants will also say that all become as one sex, 
that is, they do not retain manhood or womanhood but 
individualize into neither one thing nor the other. Then 
why should these comparatively few husbands and wives 
be reunited who have been fortunate enough to have had 
but one each? If they are neither male nor female, why 
should they reunite themselves? for by the time they 
reach the spirit world their children, if they have had 
any, are men and women themselves, with families of 
their own, probably many of them living to old age, and 
perhaps many of these same children will have had more 
than one husband or wife, and mayhap children by each. 

Now if one speaks of an eternal soul companion, one 
and one only throughout eternity, these same unreason- 
able savants will cry out: "Pernicious doctrine! Untruth 
ful doctrine! Seething passions! Free love! Unrest!" and 
so forth. But how the uniting of one man and one wo- 
man throughout eternity can be called free love and 
seething passion I fail to see. Quite the contrary, for un- 
rest and seething passions are very apt to assail those who 
have not arrived at a point of development where they 
are capable of discovering the truth as it really is. 

Men and women who are truly united in the earthly 
sphere will not be separated in the spirit world. All who 
love each other, desiring to remain together, surely will 
do so; but there is no law here that compels a man and 
woman to live together who do not wish to, and who do 
not love each other. 

In writing of soul mates, I write of a higher, holier law 
than pertains to earth, a law that many on earth are not 
yet capable of understanding. This law does not yet 
apply to earth unless the parties are so far advanced in 
spiritual knowledge that they are able to understand. 

This law has nothing to do with the baser passions, 
nothing to do with passional attraction between the sexes, 
nothing to do with seething passions of any kind, nothing 
to do with propagation, it is the great eternal, unchange- 
able law of soul mates, far, far above all earthly condi- 
tions or passions, for a man is but half a being, a woman 
the other half, and a soul is never complete until it is I ■«■ 
united to the other half of itself, until it has become ab- 
Borbed once more into oneness, pounded <>ui into perfec- 



308 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

tion; and the only reason why this eternal oneness be- 
came separated was for the purpose of propagation, the 
propagation of mankind on earth, that children might 
have a father and a mother, and when this separated soul 
has performed its mission on earth it is again united into 
oneness in the heavens. 

Now I, Madam , have given you an eternal truth. 

Swedenborg also perceived it as have many others, and 
free love, seething passions, and so forth, have nothing to 
do with it. It does not matter whether the separated 
halves ever meet on earth or not; still they often do and 
are united in earthly marriage oftener, perhaps, than 
many suppose; and those thus married never feel unrest, 
never desire to be separated, never feel the slightest incli- 
nation to be united to any other; the thought would fill 
them with horror and aversion. So, my well-meaning 
but mistaken savants, do not worry about it. The law 
will take care of itself; and every soul that exists will have 
strict justice meted out to it by this great eternal law of 
soul mates; not one will escape; not one can escape; not 
one will desire to escape. It is not material body mates, 
but eternal soul mates. Material bodies mate in the ma- 
terial regardless of soul. This is all right but fleeting. 
Souls mate in the spirit and soul world. This is eternal 
and lasting, as souls are immortal and eternal. 

There are other points that I should like to touch upon 
that all ought to know. 

You are told that husbands and wives are re-united in 
the spirit world together with their children. 

0, friends! Think a little deeper. Think out the prob- 
lem for yourselves and you will soon see that this cannot 
be so. That they can see each other, can visit each other 
is true, but that they are again united as before is not 
true, and I will not make a statement that I cannot prove, 
absolutely prove through the common reasoning power 
of mankind. It does not require very deep reasoning 
either. 

A young couple on earth marry. They have a family 
of children. Perhaps the first child dies in infancy. It 
may be the second or third. It may be ont% or two, or 
three. The mother and the rest of the family weep and 
say, "We shall meet our darling again in heaven, or the 
spirit world." Time goes on. Many other chil- 
dren are born to them. A part, or perhaps most of thorn. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 309 

live to become men and women. They marry and have 
children of their own. We will say the father and mother 
live to old age. They are grand-parents. Many of their 
grand-children die in infancy or perhaps as youths or 
maidens, for people are dying at all ages. Well, it may be 
the first couple mentioned live to be seventy years of age. 
Their little one, or more, died fifty years ago. That little 
one would, if it had lived on earth, have been fifty years 
old; in all probability a grand-parent. Now what does 
one suppose that child has been doing in the spirit world 
all those fifty years? Would one think it still a little 
babe, waiting to be reunited to its father and mother? 
Such thought would be folly. That child or children 
has long years ago grown to maturity and as progress is 
much more rapid in the spheres than on earth, that child 
has long ago become a bright and shining angel, far far 
beyond its earthly parents in wisdom and glory; it has 
long since been united to its own other self, and together 
they are many spheres beyond the earthly sphere, and un- 
less they were to make themselves known to their parents 
the parents would not recognize them. They may visit 
those parents, they may act as guardian spirits, but that 
is all. They are not united as before. 

We will say the parents live on earth until old age. 
Perhaps the father dies first, or it may be the mother. A 
bright and shining angel, filled with wisdom, comes to 
that mother; it says to her, "I was once, on earth, your 
little child. Fifty years ago you called me by such a 
name. Do you remember? The mother gazes at the 
angel but can trace no resemblance between the glorious 
being and the little puny, dying babe of long ago. That 
angel may love and assist the parents in their onward 
progress, but they can never be reunited as before. 

Then what can be said of those who have had two or 
even three husbands or wives on earth and children by 
them all, many of them having died? The first and sec- 
ond wife or husband are in spirit life; or, it may be a hus- 
band dies while living with his last wife with whom he 
has lived a great many years longer than with his first 
wife. The wife left on earth marries again, the wife in 
the spirit world has been here perhaps thirty or forty 
years, more or less as the case may be. What has she 
been doing all this time? Waiting to be reunited to her 
former husband, who in the meantime has been married 



310 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

to another woman who has also borne him a family of 
children? 

Friends, you cannot fail to see the absurdity of all 
this. Families cannot be united in the heavens as for- 
merly. Shall that husband wait for his last wife who 
has married again, or shall he be reunited to the first one 
who died so many years ago ? 

Now these are not idle questions, dear friends, but of 
paramount importance, especially when the wise savants 
of earth are teaching that families are reunited in 
heaven. 

Then, what shall be said of the thousands upon thou- 
sands of divorced men and women who have had families, 
or a number of children, and the divorced ones are mar- 
ried again and also have other children? What shall be 
said of the polygamous nations, those men who have had 
many wives? David and Solomon as examples. Are 
these men to be reunited to their numerous wives and 
heaven knows how many children? 

No, no, friends. Not so. Think more deeply. 

Professor Franz Petersilea, on coming to the spirit 
world, determined to inform his son just how these things 
were, and his actual experience is narrated in the book 
called "The Discovered Country," also his first wife 
wrote her experience in a book called "Mary Ann Carew." 
These are truthful biographies of the spirits who wrote 
them, and they will show that it is impossible for families 
to be reunited in heaven just as they were united on earth. 

Yours sincerely, MADAM 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 311 



LETTER NUMBER EIGHTEEN. 



We are very sorry that some think these messages are 
works of the imagination — the imagination of the me- 
dium — for such is not the case. Because we are giving 
many things through this sensitive that we have not heen 
able to give through some others, is no evidence that they 
are works of the imagination, in other words, fiction, not 
true. 

Spiritualists, of all others, should be the last to accuse 
an honorable and high-minded person, such as our me- 
dium is, of trying to palm off fiction for truth. It is very 
true that we have inspired the medium to write stories for 
publication that were not strictly true in detail. We did 
this in order to show truthful principles, thinking such 
tales would be more readable and interesting to the gen- 
eral public, and that we could accomplish more in that 
way than by long, dry dissertations; and we find that we 
were right. Thousands have been brought to know the 
truth, who would never have learned it in any other way; 
especially have these stories reached women, youths and 
maidens, together with children, who never would have 
read dry, philosophic, scientific essays, written altogether 
by old men, as set in their way of thinking as the ever- 
lasting hills, and as dry and pedantic as an arid desert 
without a drop of water wherewith to cool the parched 
tongue — or mind, rather. 

One man wrote to the medium that after reading one 
of the so-called philosophers, he felt so muddled in his 
ideas, and so feverish in his head, that he usually was 
obliged to douse it in cold water to gain his equilibrium 
once more. But whenever we have written stories wo 
have named them such, that none might be deceived. 

When writing these messages, and two of the books, we 
have said they were true, and we hope to be believed. 



312 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Because some truths which we have given, apparently 
conflict with those given by some other spirits, is no rea- 
son that what we give is false and that which they give is 
true, or that we are lying and wicked spirits while the 
others cannot make a mistake. Mediums differ in their 
powers. Some are lucid and some obtuse. Some are 
willing to accept new ideas and impressions, while others 
are dogmatic and set in preconceived notions. Yet we 
desire that all should be harmonious in the spiritual vine- 
yard, and a truth that we cannot give through one we try 
to give through another. By doing so we are able to 
reach all classes of minds, the young, the old, the frivo- 
lous, the thoughtful. Like the parable of old, we go 
forth to sow the seed of truth, and some little seed will 
find its way into some mind and take root and grow. But 
in order to do this we must use all kinds of sowers or me- 
diums, each one being adapted to a particular kind of 
work; One being able to reach one class of minds and an- 
other another. So, mediums, one and all, let us give you 
a little advice. Dwell together in brotherly and sisterly 
love and do not try one to injure another; for how can 
you say that the Lord has not called that other into his 
vineyard to work as well as yourself? By the Lord we 
mean the voice of the spirit, or spirits and angels, and 
nothing more was meant in the olden time. 

Now, if we write through this medium of eternal soul 
mates, it is because we are able to do so, and might not 
be able to give this great, eternal truth through another; 
yet through that other we might be able to give some- 
thing that we could not through this one. Therefore, 
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. What measure ye 
mete, it shall be measured to you again/' 

Again, we are able to write through this medium, of 
our life here, and give you a thousand and one details t on- 
cerning it. Through another we might not be able to 
give one, and yet be able to give many things concerning 
earth life that would be much to the advantage of the 
dwellers within the material. Take heed that ye call not 
each other falsifiers, for one has one gift and another an- 
other, each one according to his gift. 

Now, in this message we intend to write of soul mates. 
Not material body mates; not mates of anykind on a pas- 
sional plane; not affinities even; for many affinitize who 
are not soul mates. 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 313 

When we say soul mates, we mean soul, pure, divine 
fire; for of this the soul is composed; the spark from the 
eternal ocean of divine life, the little globe of divine fire, 
the germ which is breathed in by man, and from thence 
enters his blood, and after other processes which need not 
be enumerated here, at length becomes a living human 
being or I may say two living human beings, to be better 
comprehended, but not by the same parents. This germ, 
or spark, or translucent globe of pure soul fire is positive 
and negative in its nature, male and female. The diviue 
life is not male, or he, but male and female, he and she, 
and the ht and she are one in the divine life. 

Now in its first, or perfect state, this globe contains 
the male and the female in one, otherwise there would be 
no equilibrium in nature, otherwise all might happen to 
be males or females, or a few males and the rest females, 
or a few females and the remainder males, or there might 
be a large preponderance of one sex over the other. But 
nature does nothing haphazard like this. No, the spark, 
or globe of divine fire, is male and female, positive and 
negative. 

Now, when man breathes in this globe, or germ, by a 
natural process which we may not speak of here, it, during 
the process, separates; the positive or negative half, as the 
case may be, becoming a spermatozoa; the other half is 
thrown back into the ether or air to be inhaled by some 
other male and incarnated as soon as may be; the half 
thus thrown out, or exhaled, is not now a perfect globe; 
being but the half, it takes on an oblong form, conse- 
quently remains close to earth, thereby becoming incar- 
nated more quickly than a perfect or whole spark or germ. 
Now these are born into earth life male and female, by 
different parents, that is, one father and mother begets 
the male and another father and mother begets the fe- 
male; one is a boy, the other a girl, but in the soul germ, 
or divine globe of fire, they were one, and as angels, or 
perfected souls, they will be one again. It is of this we 
write and not of earthly passion or of seething passions of 
any kind but of the divine, immortal soul, pure and holy. 

Of course we do not expect all will understand this, 
and there are those who may twist or distort our meaning 
through malice or envy, and call our inoffensive medium 
a free-lover or affinity-hunter, and so on ad nauseam; thai 
won't change the great, divine, eternal law ono iota, for 



314 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

it is unalterable, unchangeable. Not a creature ever born 
on earth could change it if it would; but of course our 
medium is at present dwelling within the material, and 
exquisitely sensitive, otherwise we should not be able to 
tell of these things, and to be called a free-lover or affin- 
ity-hunter hurts; moreover, he has a precious wife of his 
own whom he believes to be his own true other half, and 
whom we know to be such, consequently he could not look 
on another woman except as a friend or sister. The 
thought, even, would be horrible to him. So lay aside 
your fears, friends, for no harm will ever come to the 
world through this man — but, to go on: 

Now it does not matter whether the two halves meet on 
earth or not, for, as has been said by another writer in 
The Progressive Thinker, any other half can be got along 
with very comfortably by trying to adapt themselves to 
each other, that is, the other writer said that there might 
be a number of women from which a man might choose 
a wife and either one of them would make a suitable com- 
panion for him ifthey tried to overlook each other's faults 
and strove to make each other happy. Perhaps these are 
not his exact words. The medium cannot remember, but 
this is the meaning, and it is true. 

The law of soul mates does not pertain to earth at all. 
It does not matter whether they ever meet on earth or 
not. The separation of the positive and negative por- 
tions of the divine fire globe, or germ, is for the purpose 
of propagation, that children may have a father and 
mother for the short period of earthly life; and the yet 
shorter period of the few years that propagation is pos- 
sible for this does not average twenty years in the lives of 
any couple — and whether they meet or not is unimport- 
ant considering the eons of ages of immortality and eter- 
nity. A husband and wife who dearly loved each other 
on earth might, even in the spheres, go on for a great 
length of time together, but the separation would inev- 
itably come if they were not soul mates. Earthly marri- 
ages are for time. Soul mates are for eternity. Earthly 
marriages are for earth and should be kept inviolate, the 
husband as pure and true as the wife; otherwise, no mat- 
ter how soon they are dissolved, the sooner the better. 
No pure wife should live with an impure husband, ami 
vice versa, and each husband and wife should live true 
and pure to one another, seeking no affinities, nor even 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 31 5 

soul mates, for this is not of earth but for the heavens and 
for those of earth who may be unmarried and far enough 
progressed to understand the law, and for him or her who 
cannot understand it it is not, until the time comes when 
they can or do, for that time will surely come sooner or 
later. 

Now the knowledge of this great law would not be 
given to earth if the time had not come when for the good 
of the world it must be, and we must give it through the 
mediums who are best adapted for the purpose. 

"Why do you give it now?" do you ask? 

If you were here, as we are, you would not ask. If you 
were to look upon the terrible misery of a great portion 
of humanity, you would not ask. If you could look upon 
the hopeless, loveless lives of millions of women, you 
would not ask. If you could look upon the reckless in- 
temperance and debauchery of millions of men, you 
would not ask. 

We as spiritual beings do not confine our gaze to a few 
Spiritualists or a clique or sect of anykind, or to a few 
staid, country-bred people, but to the teeming, swarming 
millions of people inhabiting the great cities of the earth- 
ly globe. Where would be the justice and recompense to 
those vast multitudes who have never known love or com- 
panionship, if there were not a great natural law that 
would eventually right all wrongs? for Nature loves every 
soul alike; there is not one that shall not be garnered up; 
there is not one that shall not at length have home, love 
and happiness; not one that shall be forgotten or left 
alone. 

We do not write for the happy, or particularly for the 
respectable, or to please this, that or the other one, or to 
make money for the medium, or that he may gain popu- 
larity or become a leader of any sect, church or creed — 
not even the creed of the Spiritualists — not even of the 
sect it will soon become — but for the great suffering 
world; the great wicked world; the gaunt and famished 
men and women; the despairing and the hopeless; the 
miserable lonely seamstresses in garrets; the poor, wretch- 
ed washer-women with debauched and drunken hus- 
bands; the hopeless, sad-eyed prostitutes, the victims of 
man's lust and treachery, whose wrongs can never bo 
righted on earth; and to all those who are more sinned 
against than sinning; to the lonely ones on deserts and 



316 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

prairies, and to all souls on earth whose misery seem- 
greater than they can bear; to such we bring the glad 
tidings. Cheer up, dear ones. Heaven, home and love 
are all in store for you. The miseries of earth are but 
for a day. The joys of heaven for all time and eternity. 
This from the band of spiritual beings who are often 
attracted to the one who has been kind enough to write 
for them this, their message. I stepped one side that 
they might write. Yours truly, 

MADAM 



LETRER NUMBER NINETEEN. 



It has been said of late that many scientific men have 
come to the conclusion that life exists within every par- 
ticle of matter of which the earth is composed; but this is 
not true, as we here in spirit life know full well. 

Franz Petersilea wrote the truth, as it really is in his 
book, "The Discovered Country;" it is also given in his 
three other published books. I wish here, now, to add 
my testimony to the truth of what he wrote, and the en- 
tire band of spirits — of which I am a member, as is also 
Franz Petersilea — also desire to add their testimony. It 
is an error, it surely is a mistaken idea. We, or the band 
of messengers to which I belong, want to set the world 
right on all important subjects, and this is one of the most 
important. 

As we have said again and again in these letters, all 
life, whatsoever its kind, exists in germinal points, or 
life germs, or soul germs — all meaning the same thing — 
and these germs are forever within the ethereal atmos- 
phere. Of course the ethereal atmosphere permeates the 
earth's atmosphere. These divine or pure germs are not, 
properly speaking, spirit but soul. Soul is life and life is 
soul, but as has been written, an atom is composed of a 
point of pure spirit or magnetism which draws to itself, 
and with which it covers itself, an equal amount of 
matter. 

Now if your microscopes were powerful enough with 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 317 

which to examine an atom, it would be found in form like 
an egg, an egg so minute that it is not visible to the 
naked eye nor as yet through a microscope, but that 
counts for nothing. It is distinctly visible to the eyes of 
spiritual beings who are wise enough to think about the 
subject at all. The matter surrounds the spirit, or mag- 
netism, and together they form the atom, but the germ of 
life — the soul-germ — is not there; that remains and re- 
sides within the ether, waiting until conditions are right 
for it to enter earthly substance wherein it develops into 
that which it is designed to be. 

My friends, matter, spirit, and soul form all the uni- 
verses that exist forever and forever; but matter and spirit 
are merely the clothing for the soul, or the life. Spirit is 
not life, neither is matter. Life is not, at first, within 
either until it enters, or is attracted, when the proper time 
comes for it to do so. 

Now if these wise men will examine the truth in this 
light, it will shine brightly upon them. Why ignore such 
a great, universal truth, when it is so plain and simple? 
The writer of this wants no credit. You can have it all. 
It is only simple truth we want to give you. Matter, 
Spirit and Soul. If soul originated within matter, as 
these savants teach, man could not be immortal, for mat- 
ter would return to its own, neither could he be immortal 
if there were nothing but spirit, for spirit is simply the 
clothing of the soul. 

When one is in the body of flesh, one is soul, spirit and 
matter; spirit and matter being the clothing of the soul. 
As this soul germ develops, it throws off matter but takes 
spirit along with it into the spiritual realm, and the spir- 
itual realm is composed of the spirits of all things that 
have held life, or a living germ, consequently life is im- 
mortal. It never had a beginning, it can never have an 
end, but it possesses the power of development. If the 
soul germ, having no beginning nor ending, enters mat- 
ter and spirit for the purpose of development, simply 
casting aside its outer coverings as it grows, why, immor- 
tality is a self-evident fact; it needs no other demonstra- 
tion. 

But life is complex, beginning with the simplest forms 
and ending with^the greatest and grandest; but if man 
came up through the tadpole and so forth, he would re- 
turn to the tadpole and so on — I am here speaking of the 



318 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

soul or life germ — he would surely go back from whence 
he came; but, not coming from these but from the pure 
fountain of life, or the fountain of soul germs which do 
not originate either within matter or spirit, he returns to 
that from which he was taken, as a developed entity, or 
soul. 

0, how pure and simple and clear this is to one who 
understands! My soul, your soul, or the soul of Charles 
Darwin, never crept up through a long chain of animal 
life — never, never, dear friends — but the soul of Charles 
Darwin was the undeveloped soul germ of Charles Darwin 
from all time, patiently waiting its development, not yet 
conscious, or, rather, not yet self-conscious, that was to 
come with his development. It was the same with me. 
It was the same with you. One species of animal life does 
not merge or run into another. All are distinct. A star- 
fish is a star-fish from all time. A clam, a clam. A 
violet never becomes a rose, and a lily is a lily from all 
time. A sheep never becomes a bear or a lion, nor a forest 
deer a clucking hen, or vice versa. All are separate and 
distinct, and so are the nations of earth. The black, the 
white, the red, and the copper colored, for all are true to 
their own soul germ life. Your soul or mine never re- 
sided within the monkey or gorilla, but we came pure 
from the great eternal fountain of life, a little germ or 
spark of that life, a distinct drop or germ from that 
divine source. Some call it God. Some, Infinite Intelli- 
gence. The source of all life is certainly infinitely intelli- 
gent, for the fountain of life is all intelligence, is pure 
intelligence. , 

If a man is intelligent he came from an intelligent 
source or he could not be intelligent; he is simply a spark 
of intelligence developed or progressed, and the stream 
cannot rise above its fountain. 

Now we do not tell you there is a personal God as he 
has been understood, in time past or time present, by 
many, or that Infinite Intelligence is in the form of a 
man or God somewhere, for such is not the case, that is, 
if such is the case we here in spirit life do not know it, 
and we have never seen such a God, but we do know of 
angels that are called God-angels. There are spirits, 
angels, arch-angels and god-angels. The god-angels are 
supposed, by us, to be all-wise, all-good, all-beneficent. 
Tney are, to us, bright and shining as your sun is to you 



LETTEBS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD 319 

of earth — so bright we cannot look at them for they blind 
and dazzle our sight. But I cannot tell you of them for, 
of course, I am far below their altitude. They, also, are 
in circles or bands, which leads us to suppose that that 
which is called God, or Infinite Intelligence, runs in 
infinite circles of intelligence. Matter runs in infinite 
circles from infinite atoms to infinite worlds. Spirit runs 
in infinite circles from the heart of the atom to the heart 
of infinity, and soul is in circles from the living germ of 
the moss to that of man, angel, arch-angel and God-angel. 
Farther than this I am not able to tell you. But do not 
sneer at Infinite Intelligence, for you are, or will be, in- 
finitely intelligent yourself, whoever you may be, having 
sprung from the eternal source of infinite intelligence. 

We, in spirit life, have been listening intently to the 
contradictory opinions of those who believe in Infinite 
Intelligence, and those who do not; but how you can rid 
yourselves of Infinite Intelligence we fail to see. You 
certainly all think that you are to become infinitely intel- 
ligent, and as there has been intelligence from all time 
and will be to all eternity and all time and space are filled 
by it, how can infinite intelligence be ignored? Why, it 
needs no proof. It is self-evident for intelligence itself 
is infinite or there could be no immortality. It seems to 
us that this must be clear, even to a little child. It is 
simply the great male God, Yahveh, that should be anni- 
hilated or forced into oblivion, the horrible, Jewish 
Jehovah. It seems to us that when we can conceive of 
Infinite Intelligence we are becoming as broad as eternity, 
and we certainly cannot get outside of eternity. We may 
let Infinite Intelligence sleep, but it is only sleep, it will 
waken up again; it is not dead for it is a living, speaking 
intelligence. 

We do not write this article for the purpose of siding 
with one clique or another, but we write that which is 
eternally true as far as we here in spirit life are able to 
understand it. A certain amount of intelligence dwells 
within all things that have life. The least life has the 
least little spark, while the greatest amount that you are 
cognizant of dwells within mankind. And thus it is from 
the atom to the angel and the God-angel. 

But there are other worlds that hold beings who are as 
far beyond man in intelligence as he is beyond the least 
mite of intelligence that exists on your earth. 



320 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

It has been a great error to call all below man, instinct, 
and has led to great misunderstanding and entanglement. 
Friends, give up the idea of instinct, together with your 
Jewish Yahveh, or Jehovah, or God. Give them both 
up. That which you have called instinct is simply lesser 
intelligence. That which you have called God is a mag- 
nified, cruel Jew, of the male gender. Let these foolish 
notions go and grasp Infinite Intelligence. Let your 
male Jehovah go and grasp male and female in one, or 
at oneness. Infinite Intelligence is both male and female, 
for both are intelligent, one as intelligent as the other. 

Yours truly, MADAM ♦ 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY. 



It is often said by those of earth that it is useless for 
people to speculate about how it may be in the spirit 
world, they had better turn their attention toward im- 
proving the condition of those who live upon the earth. 
If what we have to tell you was mere speculation on the 
part of the medium, the foregoing remarks would be just, 
but speculation has nothing to do with these letters or 
messages, neither are they the vagaries of an uncurbed 
imagination, and those who make such remarks are deal- 
ing unjustly with spiritual things and are sending forth 
unjust thoughts toward the medium. We know very well 
that many of these persons do not intend to be unjust, 
but because this particular power does not belong to them, 
they immediately come to the conclusion that it must be 
speculative or imaginary on the part of our sensitive. We 
pray you not to put stumbling blocks in our way but listen 
to what we have to say. 

That we are not able to give through all mediums what 
we can through this one, is true, but that fact counts for 
nothing. No two mediums are alike. Their powers 
differ. Probably there is not another sensitive upon the 
earth through whom we can give precisely the same 
things that we can through this one; but because of this 
fact what we are able to give through this one should not 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 321 

be despised or called untruthful, or mere speculation, or 
the vagaries of an uncurbed imagination. 

Spiritualists, of all others, should not be unjust toward 
each other. We find it impossible through this one to 
tell you just how you should arrange your earthly affairs; 
through another we are able to give you a great deal of 
information on such points; and thus all differ. It is well 
for the w r orld that they do — well for the earthly world 
and well for the spiritual world. We should have little 
encouragement if one medium was precisely like another. 

Suppose there could not be found upon your earth 
any flowers but daisies and these all precisely alike? 
Natural laws do not work thus: quite the contrary for no 
two things upon the earth, or within the heavens, are pre- 
cisely alike. The gifts and powers of no two men are 
precisely alike. What is utterly impossible for one is 
accomplished with ease by another. So wonder not at 
what we are able to tell you through this particular 
medium and say that those of earth cannot know how it 
is within the spiritual world, for it can be known; there- 
fore we admonish you, listen gravely to what we are able 
to tell you about it, and do not grieve the heart of our 
sensitive and throw a wet blanket on our endeavors to do 
so. So do not call us liars and deceivers because we are 
able to tell you something that you may not already 
know, for if there is nothing more to tell than what you 
already know, progression is at an end, and it is this very 
progress that you as Spiritualists are all talking so much 
about. 

Another thing we wish to say, Do not suppose that 
Charles Darwin, Robert Ingersoll, Helena Blavatsky, and 
a great many others whom you have called great, think 
and teach precisely what they did when within their 
earthly forms, for each and all of such personages have 
found many things different from what they had thought 
them to be when they dwelt with you in the flesh. They 
now desire to tell you how they have found it, and this 
sensitive is one of the best that they can find through 
whom to tell you. 

Robert G. Ingersoll wishes to tell you that he was 
wrong — that he made a mistake when on earth. We beg 
of you to allow him to do so. 

You say, as Spiritualists, that you believe that spirits 
communicate with the people of earth; then why dash 



322 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

cold water in the face of such, when they try to do so, by 
saying you do not believe it to be the spirit of Robert G. 
Ingersoll. 

Charles Darwin found on coming here that he had 
made mistakes — that in many things he had been right, 
but in some others wrong. He, also, desires to rectify 
such mistakes. Do not render it impossible for him to 
do so by holding doggedly to the errors that he so much 
desires to eradicate. He wants to tell you of involution, 
which should go hand in hand with evolution, but his 
earthly followers will have none of it, which grieves him 
sorely. Do not push the returning spirit from you, we 
beg. If you do there can be no progress. 

Madam Blavatsky also wishes to tell you that although 
she was right in many things, in some others she was mis- 
taken — the most important of all being reincarnation — 
and she now begs that you will not continue in this error, 
for she has found it to be utterly without foundation in 
truth. Why not allow us to return and rectify the mis- 
takes we made when in the body of flesh? There is not 
a man or woman living on the earth to-day who, when 
they get here, will not discover that they have been mis- 
taken in many things, and their first and greatest desire 
will be to rectify these mistakes if possible. Why render 
it impossible for them to do so? No matter how great 
you now consider them to have been, they were but 
fallible men and women, liable to be mistaken in many 
things, and because they are good and great, is the reason 
why they wish to correct the mistakes they made. 

A great musician dwells in a world of rhythm and har- 
mony; his soul vibrates in a different key from that of 
ordinary men — different from that of those who do not 
dwell in this exalted region. Those who do not under- 
stand music have not the slightest idea of its deep spirit- 
ual significance; they are not in harmony or sympathy 
with the soul of the master of music. When one has be- 
come a master in music, he has mastered it, consequently 
his soul dwells above and beyond that which he has 
mastered; and when a musician has mastered all that 
earth can give, he dwells in the region of music belonging 
to the spiritual and the angelic. 

We wrote you, at one time, that if one could wholly 
comprehend, understand and define Clod, ho would have 
mastered God, consequently would lie above and beyond 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 323 

him — would have become the master of God. One can 
readily see the absurdity of such a proposition. 

No mortal, spirit or angel, can comprehend, under- 
stand or define that which is called God. As it is in 
music, while on earth, many of the great minds can mas- 
ter or understand the natural laws pertaining to earth ana 
thereafter rise into the spiritual, for all that can be thor- 
oughly mastered the soul rises above and is ready to grap- 
ple with spiritual and angelic laws; but none can master 
or grapple with God or the infinite, for in order to do this 
they must have reached the infinite or become one with 
that which they call God. 

This great truth must be evident to any mind. 

How utterly witless it is for the clergy to tell people 
all about God, just what he wants them to do, and so on 
and so forth, as though they fully understood all about 
God. Really, one might think they were a little superior 
to God, knowing better than God what they needed, so 
that by constant prayer and teasing God would, at length, 
be brought to understand all about it, and give them what 
they so much desired. When one desires any gift what- 
ever, one should struggle with all one's might to obtain it, 
and when obtained one's soul rises up and beyond it ready 
to conquer other and greater things. 

Dear friends, never allow yourselves to stand still, 
thinking you know it all or that it is all exactly as you 
happen to think it is, for if you could change your soul 
to that of another man or woman, things might look en- 
tirely different to you. One should put one's self in an 
attitude, if possible, to look on all sides of a question, take 
up every point and thread in it, and even after this, one 
will eventually find one's self wrong in many things per- 
taining to it. Do not be too positive about anything. 
Leave the mind open and free to accept any new truth 
that may be given from above. The truth is only new to 
the one on whom it dawns. All truths have always ex- 
isted, it is that one's mind has become developed enough 
to perceive them that they appear new. 

Now when a soul dwells in the region of pure rhythm 
and harmony, as does those of most great musicians, and 
as we said before has become the master of what earth can 
give, that soul then enters the realm of the spiritual and 
angelic and we are able to do through such an one much 
that we could not do through one who had not. 



324 LETTEES FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

This message has heen given hy the hand of spiritual 
messengers, hut the direct controlling power is your most 
humble and obedient servant, MADAM 



LETTER NUMBER TWENTY-ONE. 



All worlds in space move in strict time, perfect rhythm 
and heavenly harmony. Each moves within its own 
measure. The music of the spheres is not a mere figure 
of speech, but they throb in unison, they move in time, 
their rhythm is perfect, and their harmony according to 
the great harmonies of heaven. The more you know 
about this world the better able you will be to make the 
earthly world correspond to it. The more you know 
about us, and our lives here, the nearer you will try to 
make your own lives like ours. 

Every truth given by us to the world below makes that 
world better. 

War is hell, and not fire and brimstone. The Chris- 
tians, at the present time, are making a horrible hell, war- 
ring and slaughtering the Chinese. It is not the slain 
Chinamen who are in hell, but the surviving Christians. 
The Chinamen love their country and whether in or out 
of the body they will try to save it from the marauding 
Christian. Thousands of the Chinese have been sent to 
this world before they ought to have come, and every one 
has his face turned toward his struggling countrymen yet 
left on the earth, and they have but one thought — to help 
those that are left — to help them to free their land from 
the "accursed foreign devils;" and until this has been ac- 
complished their attention to this life cannot be gained. 
The Christians will not gain their point but will, eventu- 
ally, be overthrown. The whole spirit world is against 
them, and Christianity is tottering to its fall. The Chris- 
tians are the most warlike people on the face of the earth, 
consequently the most hellish. They preach and believe 
in hell, therefore hell is projected from them. They are 
continually shedding the blood of their brother man, and 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 33r, 

rioting in it, but every slain man turns again, in spirit, to 
rend and destroy the Christian. 

Now, when it is fully understood that a man is like that 
in which he believes, he will try to believe or think that 
which is good. If a man believes in a hell and a devil he 
becomes a devil and lives in hell; he thinks it is his broth- 
er man who is going to live in hell, forgetting that as a 
man thinketh so is he, and his brother may not think hell, 
may not believe in the devil, consequently he cannot re- 
side in hell or associate with his Satanic Majesty. 

The Christian nations are busy to-day cunningly in- 
venting hellish machines and warships wherewith to slay 
their brothers. It is a mystery how such nations can be 
called Christian. Christ said, "if thy brother offend thee 
forgive him seventy times seven times. If he strike thee 
on one cheek, turn the other also. If he take away thy 
cloak, give him thy coat." To call these warring nations 
Christian is a misnomer; they cannot rightfully bear the 
name of Christ. 

Buddhists live up to the teachings of Christ far nearer 
than the so-called Christian nations do. 

Recall your missionaries. China doesn't want them. 
The Chinese could bear the name of Christian more 
truthfully than those who are slaughtering them. "Ven- 
geance is mine and I will repay, saith the Lord of hosts." 
The true meaning of that saying is this: The Lord of hosts 
is the principle which governs them. If they are gov- 
erned by the principles of war, hate and slaughter, those 
principles will turn again and rend them, for they are the 
principles of vengeance, or revenge, and nothing that is 
revengeful can be Christ-like or truly spiritual, and when 
the war spirit governs a nation, by war, or the same prin- 
ciple, shall it be laid low; and those nations that have 
warred the most vengefully shall be warred upon with 
more vengeance than any others and shall be conquered 
and laid waste, for a great natural law or principle can 
never work otherwise. 

I hear some of you ask: "Madam, cannot the spirits do 
something to hinder these horrible and most atrocious 
massacres? Why do not the spirits, if they are as pow- 
erful as you say, put a stop to all war of whatever kind?" 

Dear, unsophisticated reader, this is precisely what we 
are trying to do; but so long as the world will have a jeal- 
ous and wrathful God, who delights in war, and who will 



326 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

put himself on the side of those who are the strongest and 
most warlike; who, for prayers and humble petitions will 
lend a willing ear and help the allied powers of the world 
to slay, and drown, and impale upon their bayonets his 
weaker and more helpless children, just so long the hor- 
rors of war will continue. 

Can anyone conceive of a God in the form of a woman, 
listening and helping to slay her little weaklings? Did 
you ever hear of a mother who could be induced through 
petitions and prayers to aid in dashing out the brains of 
her most helpless children — to aid delightedly in impaling 
her helpless babes on the points of bayonets — in driving 
her elder children, the youths and maidens into the 
waters that she might delight in their drowning cries and 
gloat over their dead bodies which blocked navigation and 
rotted on the shores? 

No; you cannot conceive of a God in the form of a wo- 
man committing such horrible, unnatural crimes. This 
God who aids and listens to the prayers of the strongest is 
a male — a great big man who must be worshiped and ca- 
joled — who has no wife to intercede in behalf of her chil- 
dren and her little ones^ her weak ones — he is Yahveh, or 
Jehovah, the jealous, the wrathful, the vain, the revenge- 
ful. He is a bachelor. He never had a wife that we know 
of or ever heard of; but he is most licentious and incest- 
uous. 

This is your God, ye Chrstian nations of the earth! 
Do you wonder that you are filled with drunkenness, de- 
bauchery, revenge, incest, murder, and all kinds of un- 
nameable crimes? Do you wonder that war and rapine 
follow in your tracks? Is it a matter of surprise that you 
invent hellish machines, bursting bombs, and gatling 
guns, that you may slaughter your thousands and tens of 
thousands — aye, millions — of your God's weaker ones, 
and then praise and thank the bloody monster because lie 
has taken your part and helped you to do it? 

Sing his praises in the thousands of costly tcnipk's 
erected for the purpose of falling down cajoling, and wor- 
shiping him. Tell him how good, loving and kind he is; 
how beautiful, glorious, and altogether lovely; how full 
of justice and mercy; thank him because he has robbed lus 
weak, bui peaceful and Industrious children of their 
rightfu] heritage; praise him because he has taken their 
cities and villages awav from them and given them to 



LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 327 

you; praise him because he has incited you to tie together 
the long and beautiful hair of his weak women, his old 
men, his young maidens and youths, his little children, 
and cast them into the deep waters, there to strangle, 
struggle and drown; that beautiful, lovely God, sitting on 
his great white throne, that holy of holies; that all- wise, 
beneficent God! 

How can such a God's throne be white? On the con- 
trary it is reeking with blood — the blood of his helpless 
little ones. Pools, streams and rivers of blood are pour- 
ing from it in all directions; and this God is a raging 
devil, delighting and feeding on the blood of the slain; a 
beast with ten horns and a tongue of fire, whilst fire and 
brimstone are belched forth from his eyes and nostrils in 
the form of powder and smoke, and he tears and pushes 
with his horns — which are the Christian nations of the 
earth — and then with what a horrible grin of satisfaction 
he listens to their sycophantic praise and worship, and you 
ask me: "Madam, why don't the spirits do something to 
stop all this dreadful carnage?" 

My dears, I will tell you why. The world, excepting a 
few Spiritualists, has not been thinking of or listening to 
the spirits of just men and women made perfect, or far 
more perfect and wise than those who worship Yahveh, 
or Jehovah, or God — it matters little which you call him: 
on the contrary they have been listening to this imaginary 
God, worse, far worse than any pagan God; in fact he is 
the small God of the pagans enlarged to an enormous size; 
and the many Gods of some of the pagan nations are 
joined together as one. All the vices and bloodthirsty 
wickedness of the many Gods are combined in the Chris- 
tian's God. You have been listening to this God and not 
to the spirits, angels, or heavenly messengers. 

If we cannot be heard we can do no good. If a deaf 
ear is turned to us and the people run after the idol Yah- 
veh, our pleadings and teachings will not reach the souls 
of mankind. 

When we speak of Yahveh we do not in anyway refer to 
Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus has nothing to do with the 
Christian nations of the earth to-day. They know not 
Jesus, neither do they follow any part of his teachings. 
His gentle, loving spirit finds no place among them. 

You ask: "Madam, what can be done?" My sisters, 
rise up and destroy Yahveh — demolish him root and 



328 LETTERS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

branch. Write against him, fight against him, if need be, 
but do not fight each other. You have a perfect right to 
hew down and destroy an idol. An idol has neither sense 
nor feeling: Hew this grinning, bloody monster down. 
Purge your souls of this horrid idol. Believe not in him 
at all, neither worship him in any way, for no such crea- 
ture exists axcept in the imagination. And when you 
have destroyed him, listen to the voice of the angels, and 
if you must have an idol, or a God, let it be male and fe- 
male in unity or oneness; let the mother God gather her 
children, all of them without distinction of color or race, 
unto her loving bosom, shielding and caring for them 
equally alike; let the generous and loving father God pro- 
vide for and guard his helpless little ones, or weaker chil- 
dren, as well as his strong ones; let this noble, good and 
wise God provide schools, colleges and educational halls 
for his children. 

When he or she has done all the good and wise things 
possible, then you may praise him or her, a little if you 
must; but a good, noble and all-wise God does not care to 
be praised. The good he or she has accomplished is 
praise enough of itself. It brings its own reward. 

The God within you is yourself, and as you are so is 
your God. Yours for the Right. 

MADAM 



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